Midnicampum Holicithias
by Nicholas Phillips
Summary: Action, Apocalyptic, Secrets. When a new shooter of a genetically modified strain of the Night Howler serum appears and wreak havoc on the city, It is up to our favorite duo to find and apprehend the suspect. After a large piece of Nick's history confrots him in person, can Zootopia still be the crazy and wonderful place as it once was?
1. FST NML

A/N:

Zootopia is NOT MINE, the only things that I own are the plot and the OC's in the storyThis is my first fanfic so please use constructive criticism to improve the way I present the story, you may also help in the development of the story and I hope you enjoy this fanfiction!

\- Nicholas Phillips

Chapter One – FST NML

"All right, all right enough. Shut it!" Chief Bogo walked into the room, in his usual stoic self, apparently to keep his image clear to the officers of Precinct One after the incident with Clawhauser in his office "We have some new recruits with us this morning including our first fox, who cares?"

"Ha! You should have your own line of inspirational cards sir!" Nick said with his usual smirk, riling up the Water Buffalo "Shut your mouth Wilde!" the officers trying their best to suppress their laugh, amused by the fox's attitude towards the Buffalo, trying to focus on Bogo handing out assignments.

"Assignments, Officers Grizzoli, Fangmire, Delgato, Tundratown SWAT."

"Snarlov, Higgins, Wolford, Undercover."

"Hopps, Wilde, parking duty. Dismissed!"

Upon hearing those words, Both Nick's and Judy's happy and hopeful face shattered to a shocked and confused one "Just kidding!" then they both started breathing after realizing the Chief's prank, his face becoming that of a serious one "We have reports of a street racer tearing up Savannah Central, find him, shut him down."

"So are all rabbits' bad drivers or is it just you?" Nick asked, fed up of the way Judy has been driving in the past few minutes, and her response was that of a sudden stop. The fox hitting the dashboard with a pawpsicle sticking on his left eye.

"Oops sorry" Judy said innocently keeping her innnocent farm girl face.

"Hehe sly bunny" Nick said, earning a Dumb fox remark from Judy "You know you love me" Nick said, only to get a reply that he expected.

"Do I know that? Yes, yes I do."

Just as Judy was putting the car back in motion, an orange and white car ran a red light, immediately Nick put on his aviators, pressed the siren button and chased the car.

After a relatively short chase, even for a street racer, Judy got off and approached the driver's side of the car asking "Sir you were going 115 miles per hour I hope you have a good explanation" as the car was rolling down its window Judy threw a shocked face when the driver was revealed to be a sloth, Nick's friend sloth from the Department of Mammal Vehicles.

"Flash Flash Hundred Yard Dash!" Nick said with a rather amused face, expecting a slow response from the sloth.

"Niiiiiick," as of this moment more than a thousand questions were on Judy's head, oblivious to the fact that her mouth was slowly opening, 'How the hell did he drive like that?!, he's a sloth for crying out loud!' 'Maybe he ran the red light because he can't take his foot of the gas fast enough' 'Should I give him a ticket? or impound his car?' 'Should I report to…'

Unknown to Judy, Nick was holding up his iCarrot phone and took a picture of her shell-shocked face, when that was not enough, Nick turned on his camera flash on purpose to grab her attention, which worked like a pistol firing a bullet.

"Nick! What was that for?" Judy asked Nick only for him to smirk and reply.

"That my dear Carrots, is blackmail. Now, I will let you delete it, in 48 hours, BUT, you should by me a Grande size coffee cup from Snarlbucks every morning until then." Judy's face was now steaming red, knowing that she did not have anything to balance the status quo and also because she knows that she has to do anything he has to tell her for the next two days or risk being humiliated in social media.

Going back to Flash, Judy informed Chief Bogo that Flash was having trouble taking his foot off the gas pedal to let him off the hook, he did help them crack the Nighthowler case after all.

The rest of their patrol was uneventful, with Nick trying to keep his mind off what both of them said earlier, 'Does she really love me?' 'Was she being serious about it?' Nick snapped back to reality when Judy asked him, "Hey Nick, I was wondering, where are you going to sleep?"

Nick have a grin, hiding his true reaction. "Are you talking about the bridge?"

Judy quickly replied "Yeah."

"Actually Fluff, I don't live there." Now Judy was shocked again, 'If he does not live there, why was he there when I was looking for him?' as if answering her silent question, Nick said, "I only stay there when I'm planning hustles with Finnick, I have a better place to call home, familiar of a place called 1 Cypress Grove Lane?" Judy only gave him a confused expression, "You know, the place where a decent house? You passed by it en route to the warehouse" Judy still did not know, much to Nick's amusement, he gives up and finally tells her, "Ok Carrots, here's what I want you to do, get your things from your wretched apartment, terminate the contract, and tell me when and where to pick you up. You are officially moving in with me; I don't want my partner to live in an old apartment."

Judy was stunned, he did not know where and how his place looks like, but from the look of things, it sounds better than Grand Pangolin so she quickly responded, "Really Nick?" She asked, trying to get a trip on the situation.

"Yeah, really."

"Thank you." She began to cry, losing her serious stature.

"Oh you bunnies, so emotional." Nick comforted her.

"Okay, okay now, so when and where am I going to pick you up?" Nick asked dead serious about the moving in.

"6:30 PM, Grand Pangolin, don't get lost dumb fox." Judy told him.

"Got it. So where is it?" Nick asked then Judy punched his arm, leaving a pain to last for an hour. "It would be a miracle if I can still drive after that Carrots."

Judy just rolled her eyes, "Bye Nick."- "See ya Carrots, be back in an hour!" and with that, Nick drove off, heading for 1 Cypress Grove Lane.

'Okay, keep your head together, she is going to live with you now, so tidy the hell up!' When he arrived, everything was a mess, old take-out boxes, cans, crumpled papers, and every mess that seems to come from an architect, a very focused architect, an architect of hustles. Realizing that he can't do it himself, he decides to call someone, after all, he does know everyone.

"Zootopia Cleaning Services, how may I help you?"

"This is Nick Wilde; can you patch me in to David Thompson?"

"Yes, Mr. Wilde, Patching you through."

"Dave!"

"What do you want Wilde?"

"Hey now, don't 'Wilde' me, you don't want that info leaked right?"

"Yes Nick. What do you want?"

"I need someone to clean the Cypress 1."

"When?"

"I need it cleaned in an hour."

"Okay, I will be sending one over."

"Thanks Dave, I owe you one bud."

Ten minutes later a cleaning van arrived, and cleaned the place in 20 minutes, now all he has to do is to wait for the time, or at least that's what his mind was thinking, he still has to haul all of the spare furniture he had such as a spare bed, desk, chairs, and even a spare desktop computer, after all that hauling, Nick sat and turned the air conditioner at max, he had only 10 minutes to rest before he has to leave and decide which car to use, either his regular Furd Ranger, or his Custom Built car.

Meanwhile, at Judy's apartment…

'Okay okay, it's all fine now, just wait for Nick to pick you up' Judy thought as she sat in her room waiting, waiting for another 30 minutes before Nick arrives, just as she was about to sleep, her phone rang.

"Hey there Jude, Jude the Dude, how was your day?"

"Oh, just the usual dad, patrols, some pickpockets and also…"

"Wait, why is your apartment empty?" Judy was cut off by a rather protective Stu.

"Oh yes yes yes, I nearly forgot, I'm going to move in with my partner, he offered me a room in his house at 1 Cypress Grove Lane" Judy said, trying her best to not get her parents to overreact.

"Stu, have you ever heard of a place with the address 1 Cypress Grove Lane?"

"Yeah, the fancy mansion!"

"Judy is moving in there; her partner owns the place!"

"Look at you; doing things on your own, anyways since you are moving out, we will give you time to fix things, be careful now, bye!".

'Wow, that phone call could have been much worse, only if they knew about him…' Her thoughts were cut off as her phone rang, it was Nick, she was waiting for her downstairs.

"Hey slick, how long were you waiting here?" Judy asked, unaware of that time that passed.

"Only for 5 minutes, honestly I thought you were still getting ready!" Nick said with a wide grin on his face, amused by the fact that she never wants to be late.

"What a car Nick! I never took you for a modern one, but sweet cheese and crackers this is a tank!" Judy said out loud, not knowing that Nick was already driving to his house.

"So Nick, how did you get this car?" Judy asked, not really sure of the answer she will get, Nick replied "Believe it or not carrots, I found this in a junkyard as a rusting hulk of junk." Judy was shocked, 'How can this shiny car that's built like a tank end up there?'

"Okay fluff, here is the backstory."

"Back then, when I was still making 200 bucks a day, I just had too many, so I decided to invest in a car, the perfect getaway car, but as it turns out, it's better as a luxury ride."

"So one day, after one of my hustles, I came across a junkyard and thought 'Maybe I can find something interesting here.' So I went inside one, then what I saw was glorious, an armored chassis of a Limited Edition Thumper H2 modified for hurricane chasing with an extended fuel tank, it was rusted as hell so I managed to buy it only for 50 dollars, so spent five years, fixing and polishing the chassis, and making a blueprint for a high torque and high speed hybrid engine and created a 7.2 HP engine out of parts from junkyards from Deerbrooke County to Downtown Zootopia, after getting everything fixed, I had a very big problem, the windows were fragile as hell, so with the money, I bought an Armored Bulletproof glass from Armored Firearms in Little Rodentia, that was where I lost 50,000 dollars and that's how I got this 'Tank'."

"But in total, I only spent 78,000 dollars on this beast, and it is worth much more than that as it would seem, it even has the Carrots Seal of Approval judging from your appearance." Nick smirked, apparently expecting a reaction like that from her, after all it was an engineering feat, even the mayor would kill to get a car like his but he can get it only through hard work and sheer determination, finally after what seemed like forever, Judy started talking again.

Judy threw her 'cop face' and asked. "Hey Nick?"

"Yes Carrots?" Nick grinned, knowing about what's going to happen next.

"Do you know that it's illegal to get a car like this? You need to have a license to operate an armored car…"

Judy was cut off by an unamused Nick. "You can find it all in the glovebox."

She gave him a confused face, only to realize about his past. "Of course I can sly fox."

Not long after their conversation ended, they arrived at Nick's house; a staggering house 4-stories high, a garden, a backyard, and a 6-foot fence covering it all, topped with the most advanced surveillance and security system in Zootopia. After all, he is going to need it to put his money somewhere, as transferring them to banks would be dangerous as they could freeze his assets and leave him penniless.

"Wow Nick! You did not tell me about this house!" Judy was very excited to see what's inside.

"Because Fluff, it does not exist in my records, the lot belongs to my grandpa, I just placed a house on top of it so technically, this house belongs to him." Nick explained in the lowest volume he can manage, to not alert anyone nearby as they went through the massive gates. "I'm surprised you're not calling it a fortress, why?"

Judy smirked, "Because I saw the Supermax Prison at Tundratown."

"Ah, but that was designed to not let anyone out, this was designed to not let anyone in."

Judy was stunned, it was everything everyone could have hoped for, a vault, a fallout shelter, and something that Nick claimed could keep out savage animals, "Nick, how long did it take to finish building this house?"

A small sogh escaped the fox, as if he aged five years older. "15 years, I had to scavenge things from local junkyards to save money, I only spent 460,000 on the house because I had to build it myself. I had a very hard time, because I built it at the same time with the Tank."

They rode an elevator and reached the top floor, Nick got Judy to her room and once she hits the hay, she went sound asleep not knowing that she hasn't unpacked yet. Nick silently went to his room and thought, 'Tomorrow is another day.' And with that he fell asleep.


	2. A New Day in the Force

Chapter Two- A New Day in the Force

Judy woke up to a blaring klaxon, she ran out of her room and shouts "NIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!" as soon as Nick heard her, he came running up the stairs; the elevators were too slow to reach the shouting Judy in time.

"What is it carrots?" He asked, trying his best to quell the shouting rabbit.

"Turn that Klaxon off!" She yelled, the klaxon still blaring in the background.

"Jeez Carrots chill down, just say 'Alarm Off' then it will be quiet." Nick cracked a grin.

"OFF!!!" then the room was silent, except for Nick's laughter which filled the house.

"Next time, if you need me, just press the intercom over there." Nick motioned to an intercom device at the wall "Get changed Carrots, we have a situation at the ZPD" and with that Nick sped off to his room while Judy went to hers, a few minutes later they were downstairs with Nick holding up the time.

"Which one which one…" Nick says frantically trying to decide which car to bring, to him deciding which car to bring was very important as it displays power and your privilege on the road, 5 minutes later he decides to use his Catrolet Colorado and sped off to the ZPD.

When they arrived, there was a SWAT anti-riot team stationed at the doors of the ZPD and there was silence in the reception desk, Clawhauser was in a very focused attitude, something both Nick and Judy never encountered, "Hey Clawhauser, what's happening?" Judy asked.

"We got a new shooter." Clawhauser replied in a rather serious tone.

"But why is there a SWAT anti-riot team outside?" Nick asked.

"Classified, Chief Bogo will fill you in once you reach the bullpen" and with that they sped off to the bullpen, and waited anxiously for the Chief to arrive.

Once Chief Bogo was in the room, the usual shouts and howls did not happen, there was dead silence in the room.

"I have two items in the docket today"

"First, you may be thinking why we have SWAT in Anti-Riot gear at the entrance, it is associated to another case"

"Assignments, Officers Grizzoli, Fangmire, Delgato, Tundratown SWAT."

"Snarlov, Higgins, Wolford, Undercover."

"Hopps, Wilde, my office now."

Once they reached the buffalo's office, they sat on the chair in front of the desk, and Chief Bogo's ever frightening stature leaning over the two officers.

"What I'm about to tell you is highly classified, so I don't want anything being said in this room leaving that door." Bogo said gesturing to the door, "We have a new Night Howler shooter, the public knows only that, but there is more to that than you think there is." Bogo went through his desk drawers and found two badges with the words 'Level 5 Clearance' embossed in the badge, together with the names of Nick and Judy. "These badges give you the same clearance as me, you can use them at your discretion but you must report to me and me only." Bogo paused and took another piece of paper and handed it out to them. It contains everything they need about the case, "I need you to go to Cliffside Asylum, I'm assigning you to this case as you cracked the Night Howler case and only you know what happened during your 'Undercover Mission' that exposed Bellweather. If anyone asks you what's happening or why you have that clearance, do not tell them anything or I will have your pelts hanging on this wall." Nick gulped as the thought of the Chief skinning them apparently made him sick.

"We got it Chief, you can count on us." Judy said in reflex.

"Splendid, Clawhauser will give you the complete case file."

They both went downstairs, got the file from Clawhauser and headed straight to the asylum.

Once they reached the gates, the were stopped by the SWAT stationed at the gates, guns pointed at them and wearing full body armor, not a patch of fur can be seen. "Sorry sir no civilians past this checkpoint" all they had to do was to flash their badges, "Sorry Ma'am, Sir, but please stand out of the car, we will do a mandatory search" after ten minutes, they were cleared to go through and parked their car beside the main entrance.

"Hey Nick, I wonder why those SWAT wore complete body armor? I did not even see their faces or a patch of fur!" she exclaimed.

"That is why we are here fluff, to find out what's happening."

Once inside, the hall that held the cells for savage animals were all green lit except a certain area, a fox greeted them, "Hello Officers, my name is Dr. Nicholas Phillips and I'm here to show you around the place" he said in a rather agitated way that seems to indicate he was bothered.

Down the hall they saw a bloodied cell with a tiger and badger inside, and a white lab coat, "The tigress, Felona Corrolenko, was shot in an alley and was sedated with no casualties, but when Dr. Reinhardt van Heim, the badger, came in to give the antidote, he miscalculated his distance and got bitten, both of them were already given their antidotes, but nothing seems to work, anyways that's not your problem…" Dr. Phillips said with a hint of sadness, "Dr. Reinhardt was my friend, he is very hard working and was the direct cause of the breakthrough of the antidote." Judy's heart sank when she heard this, apparently Nick saw her and took her in his arms.

"It's okay carrots, we will find him, oh you bunnies, so emotional."

After a few minutes trying to comfort Judy, Nick was dripping wet from her tears. After taking a folder given to them by Dr. Phillips, they left the asylum and headed straight to the ZPD in haste, they read the folder and learnt everything they needed to report to Chief Bogo, including the fact that the serum can spread through bites and are highly infectious, they pose a major threat to the city as there is no antidote for the current strain of Night Howlers and they are genetically modified to infect and only use their savage instincts to do it, but the fact that they do not act as complete savages (as they don't attack the mammals that are infected) makes it baffling for scientists to solve the genetic code for the strain, and it also proves that this is no virus, it is mammal-made.

After feeding the information to Chief Bogo, they were granted two days forced leave as they have no evidence to connect this to anyone and are given these two days to revisit the old Night Howler case as it could potentially hold a list of suspicious mammals and help them get a badly needed breakthrough on the case.

"Hey Carrots, can you do all the file searching for me?" Nick asked, much to Judy's dismay, "I have to go do something important at the house." Nick said, only for Judy to smirk and say.

"I will do it if you let me drive the Furrari tomorrow going to work." Nick's jaw dropped but found it fair, after all the case report was over 200 pages' long.

"Okay Carrots, you got yourself a Furrari in your inventory the whole day starting tomorrow." Nick only said at a flat tone, "Okay Carrots, gotta go, see ya!"

Once at the house, Nick readied his combat gear, and even bought two for Judy, including a spare set, for two long hours he was arming the whole house into a fortress, a strong point of humanity in case of an outbreak of a deadly plague or nuclear war, it is even complete with an airlock, and an oxygen filtering system that supplies air to the whole house with a similar water filtration device with a pipeline to the nearest water well and a fuel pipeline to a gas depot, which with a lifetime free fuel card from the Company CEO granted him near infinite resources to make his fortress fully independent in such extreme cases.

Cases like this.

Meanwhile at the ZPD records room.

"Hello there I'm Officer Hopps, I need full access to the Night Howler case files please." The in-charge of the records room – a giraffe – stopped her.

"Sorry officer, but you need level five clearance to access these files." A flip of a badge was all it took for the giraffe to hand over the files and as soon as Judy got them, she ran off to the review tables to read the whole case all over again.

She looked for names that may be associated to the current case, names of mammals that were not behind bars during the case.

One and a half hour later, Judy came across three names that were never arrested for their involvement; Doug, Woolter, and Jesse, they slipped through the case because this part was where the 'Undercover Mission' was, Bellweather was only arrested because of the carrot pen recording.

She gave the files to the giraffe and got a Zuber going to Nick's house and when she arrived, she opened the gate and laser pointers were aiming for her head, she immediately froze and the environment surrounding her slows down.

'So this is how I'm gonna die huh?'

"Stand down!" a familiar voice said out of nowhere, but the mammal saying them was someone else, or was it? "Sorry Carrots, I forgot to put you in the system, don't worry next time this won't happen again." Judy was speechless, what she thought was a military contractor was actually Nick, wearing complete trauma plates in a similar fashion like that of the SWAT team guarding Cliffside.

"Now, I know you are confused but this is really important, I need you to go to your room and meet me downstairs in 20 minutes." Judy was full of rage as a second ago she nearly died.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING NICK!?!?" she yelled with all the air that existed in her lungs.

"I know, I'm sorry Judy but you need to listen to me please, I'm only doing this so that you will be safe." he tried to reassure the bunny.

"FINE! BUT YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING ONCE I'M DONE!!!" and with that, Judy left for her room.

After an hour trying to cool down, Judy still found herself pissed off by the events that previously transpired, she did not know what was happening, so she was silent and did not ask any questions until Nick explains everything at the living room.

Once the elevator reached the second floor, Nick was sitting in a sofa in a rather relaxed manner, "Come here Carrots, let's talk shall we?" Judy did not say a word, she grumpily sat down as Nick started explaining to her.

"So, I know what happened out there, I am really sorry, I did not know you would be going out so quickly, but anyways, there is something I need you to do so that you won't die accidentally the next time you come home without me okay?" he bluntly said.

"Fine, what is it?" she asked, unaware of the next question.

"I need you take your clothes off –including your underwear– and step inside the device in there." Nick gestured to a full body scanner for the security system inside a dark room, "Don't worry, I won't be here I will be at the second floor when you get naked." And with that, Nick went to the elevator and went the control room, he watched Judy through a live feed of a CCTV camera, he pressed a button marked 'Record as…' and typed the words, 'Judy Hopps- (N)' and felt a growing bulge between his legs, 'Only if she knew how much I love her…'

When the machine started up Judy's biometrics and her physical appearance shows up in the monitor, after the final scan, Nick sent one more instruction to the monitor inside the device telling her to spread her legs and freeze until the last scan was done, and Judy just followed it with no suspicion, not knowing that Nick was using the final scan for his own lustful desires.

When the whole scanning business was done, he went downstairs to continue explaining things to her, "So Judy, you found something important in the case folders?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I got three names…" She started, only to be cut off by Nick.

"Doug, Woolter and Jesse am I right?" He inserted, taking Judy by surprise.

"Nick how did you know?" She asked him.

"I told you I know everybody, and I know they are working for a criminal named Max Michaels" Judy was silent, now she understood why Nick was acting like this, Max Michaels was someone you don't want to play with, and he can order a hit out on anyone, even he murdered members of his own crew if they do not get things right.

"So how do we tell Bogo?"- 'We tell him tomorrow, even though we are off duty he needs to, starting tomorrow we will be using the H2 as our transport, sorry fluff but your Furrari has to wait." he apologetically said.

"That's okay Nick, I'm sorry by the way." she said.

"What for?" Nick asked innocently

"For shouting at you earlier." she explained, with tears formin up her ears.

"Hey, I saw that one coming, don't beat yourself out for it okay, you were just shocked that's all."

"Thank you Nick, Good Night." Judy said in a sleepy manner.

"Good night Fluff." Nick said, and they all went to sleep.


	3. The Outbreak

**A/N: This story only seems to get updated rather quickly because this idea was in development months before, expect slower updates coming up. Thanks for reading! - Nicholas P.**

Chapter Three- The Outbreak

"Alarm off." Judy said to silence the alarm, she has a long day ahead of her in full trauma plate armor, even though she is a police officer, she is wearing heavier gear than the gear worn by SEAL Team Six. Downstairs, Nick was already waiting for her to come down, looking defeated as the 18-pound body armor took its toll on the Red Fox.

"Morning Judy." Nick greeted Judy at the sofa.

"Morning Nick, what made you go up this early?" Judy asked, unaware of what's going to happen next.

"This." Nick pushed a button putting the whole house on lockdown, heavy sheets of Titanium blocked every single hole in the house that a thief could use to get in and turned on a blade that guards the exhaust from any unwanted visitors, the Tundratown District Penitentiary does not even have such equipment, mainly because of the fact that they want to keep their prisoners in, alive.

Once the whole house was on lockdown, it took 5 minutes for the heavy garage door to open just enough for the armored H2 to pass, the duo revved their way to the ZPD Precinct One to report the situation to Chief Bogo.

When Nick and Judy arrived at the ZPD, the place was in its usual state, except the squad of SWAT at the entrance, and a rather serious Clawhauser manning the front desk, the same Clawhauser they met the last time they went to the ZPD and despite the fact that it was the first time they encountered him like this, Nick and Judy never got used to his seriousness, he even preferred work over his precious donuts.

"Clawhauser, we need to see Chief Bogo now." Judy said while trying to make the impression that they were just in the cool, ultimately failing when Clawhauser noticed their vests dripping with sweat.

"Chief Bogo is at his office, I believe you know the way." Clawhauser said in a flat tone.

"Thanks bud." Nick said while rushing to the office

"Chief Bogo!" Nick and Judy said in unison

"Not Now!" Bogo said, startled by his officers barging into his door, causing the buffalo to slam his phone to the table, but succeeds to turn off the audio, preventing the same incident with Clawhauser during the Night Howler incident.

"Chief, this is very important considering the fact that you have a tank waiting outside, me and Nick wearing complete trauma plates, and also carrying high powered assault rifles which we deposited downstairs."

Defeated, Bogo gave an exhausted sigh and asked, "What tank are you talking about?"

Nick grinned so hard that it begun to hurt his muzzle, "Open Camera One on your monitor."

Bogo was surprised that his reaction got the best of him. "Oh shit! That is a tank! Where did it come from?"

Nick just gave him a smug grin, "I own that tank sir, and right now we have information that can change the whole case."

"You need to arm all of your officers or they will die! This Max Michaels is not a common criminal; he is a terrorist." He needs a warrant for arming the officers, unless…

"Do you have probable cause?" Bogo asked, knowing what would be said next.

"Yes sir, the mammals were spotted in the Rainforest district talking to each other based on our informant." At that moment Bogo grabbed his microphone and switched it from Clawhauser to all precincts, including the officers on patrol.

"All officers, this is the Chief, you have 15 minutes to arm yourselves with lethal ammunition, be on your full combat gear, we are facing a war."

 _Somewhere in Savannah Central…_

"You got Doug here, what's the mark?"

"Cheetah, ZPD Headquarters, not the receptionist he's too fat, paint with new balls."

"Cheetah, ZPD."

"Can you hit one? They're fast."

"Yeah I know they're fast I can hit him, listen I hit a tiny little otter in a moving car."

"Save your bragging when it's done."

"Doug, open up! We got your latte!"

"Woolter and Jesse are here, I'll buzz you when it's done or you'll see it on the news, whichever comes first."

"It better have the extra foam this time."

"It does."

 _Back at the ZPD…_

After the whole event at Bogo's office, the duo heads out to the front desk to ask for possible cases that may be linked to theirs, "Clawhauser, do you have any cases similar to this one? Cases that involved incurable savage mammals?"

Clawhauser did not even look when he said, "Nope, your case is one of a kind, best head out to the archives or the library, who knows? You might find one there." Just as Judy heads out to the front door, a mammal was lying down at the street, leaving Nick behind, she dashed to the injured looking mammal, the nearing distance revealing itself to be a cheetah, 'Well, at least not all cheetah's are fat like Clawhauser.' She thought as she dashed to the cheetah only for the mammal to stand on all fours, and started sprinting to the nearest mammal; a rhino, and started to bite others that were oblivious to the situation at hand. Judy stopped and thought.

'Oh Shit'

Just as the rhino went down, he went back up but this time on all fours, acting erratically the rhino smashed a café nearby, sending all the customers that were once there running in all directions.

"Officer Hopps to dispatch, we have a 10-91 multiple mammals gone savage! They are 50 meters from the ZPD put the precinct in lockdown now!"

A rather confused Clawhauser was waiting at the other end of the radio, knowing that she can't give such an order, he asked her "Do you have Level 5 Clearance?"

Judy was angry now. "I have the clearance; I won't be telling you this if don't have!"

A shocked Clawhauser responded "Ok, Initiating lockdown, you have 10 minutes to get your tail here before the doors close so hurry!"

Once Judy heard Clawhauser saying 10 minutes, she ran as fast as her legs can take her, only to attract the attention of the cheetah. '25 meters left come on Judy!' Nick thought as he caught on to the situation, and his thoughts went to his car, he jumped out the fence got into his car and raced to Judy's aid, once Judy was inside, Nick saw how frightened she was, she did not know about what was going to happen, her face shows that she was not expecting it and the thought that she was right in front of the jaws of a sprinting cheetah only added more fright to her face.

"Come on carrots, you're safe now, the ZPD is in lockdown so we can't get inside. What I need you to do it to get the .50 cal hidden in the reserve tire compartment and mount it on that turntable."

Judy only said one sentence, "I can't kill victims."

Nick gave her a confused look, "You can choose between three types of ammo, they have a different belt for each one, we have tranqs, beanbags and AP rounds."

After hearing this, Judy calmed and proceeded to get the monstrous gun and mounted it on the turntable, she chose the beanbag rounds as they could stun them and are much more accurate in a moving car situation.

Once Nick put the pedal to the metal, the heavy duty engines roared to life, catching every savage mammals' attention in the vicinity, and with Judy manning the gun from a remote, they stunned as much mammals as they could before reaching the house, once inside, they established comms to the headquarters.

"Officer Hopps to dispatch, are you there?"

She was greeted by a worried Clawhauser, "Read you loud and clear Officer Hopps, where is your location?"

Unsure of what to tell him, she turned to Nick, only for him to nod in approval, "We are at 1 Cypress Grove Lane. What the status on the savage animals?" Judy asked knowing the fact that there were hundreds of mammals in front of the ZPD as it was in the center of the town.

"They spread to Tundratown, Rainforest District and Savannah Central, are you safe?" Clawhauser impatiently asked, genuinely concerned of their safety.

"Yeah, we are at a tank currently." Judy informed the worried cheetah, hoping to make the information calm him down.

"We got your location Hopps, just sit tight and we'll get to you." Clawhauser said in his regular tone, only to be corrected by Judy.

"No, we will pick up Chief Bogo, go back here, and plan an operation to reclaim the city, we have proper supplies here, and we also need a few drivers to drive a few trucks for resupply."

Out of options, the cheetah can only agree, whatever they have up their sleeves at this moment it was the only chance they've got, "Ok, when will we expect you to arrive?"

Nick grabbed the phone and said, "In about 10 minutes ready the doors, I don't want to wait outside for too long, also get an IR Beacon, we need them if we ever get air support, get at least 20 of them."

"What are you going to use them on?" Clawhauser curiously asked.

"We have a military base 10 clicks north of the city, unfortunately it was overrun during the sudden attack, we plan to raid the place and use the captured materials." Nick announced.

"Okay, Dispatch out."

Once they pulled into the sight of the ZPD, the garage door opened and they were greeted inside by Chief Bogo and Officers Grizzoli, McHorn, Wolford, Fangmeyer, Higgins and Snarlov. Once they were in, they headed straight for the fortress.

"So Wilde, where did you get enough money to buy this tank?" Wolford asked, amazed by the electronics and weapons in the tank, it even has its own satellite uplink molded into the chassis of the car to prevent it from flying away in its old storm chasing days.

"Well, I'm afraid to tell you that its classified information." Nick grinned.

"I call bullshit on that Wilde, seriously though, it smells like it's just new." Higgins said only to be cut off by Fangmeyer.

"You got this from a junkshop did you?" Nick's smug façade broke, confirming this he nods, "I knew it, there are only 2 Thumper H2's built like this, my dad owns the other one." Nick only shrugs and focuses on the road as the rest of the trip was uneventful.

Once they arrived, Nick ordered the security system to stand down after guns were pointed on their faces in a similar fashion like that of Judy's experience, with all the officers including Bogo needing a few minutes to relax before stepping another foot in the house.

"Damn Wilde, you could get people killed with a security system that aggressive!" Wolford cursed, not expecting the security to be highly aggressive.

"Well they won't die when they stop, it also adds bonus that you don't need to shout 'freeze!' at the top of your lungs." Chief Bogo only rolled his eyes and asked him.

"What do you need us to do Wilde?"

"Okay here is the plan;" Nick said in a serious manner

"Zootopia Joint Forces Base Bravo is the nearest Military installation from this place, and we are going to raid it"

"Are you crazy?" Wolford asked, aware of the security that base has being the second biggest base in Zootopia.

"Not when you know the code to deactivate the security system" Nick smirked.

"And how are you going to do it?" Asked Higgins.

"Hack the military satellite above us right now, go in undetected and get four Bradley's and three M2 Abrams, the ones with TUSK armor only, we need to be heavily armored to survive." Chief Bogo filled in.

"How can you hack a high security satellite, get to the motor pool and steal military equipment in plain daylight?" Fangmeyer said trying to make sense of everything that's happening.

"I have a satellite uplink, code for the security, and the master key for all vehicles in the military." Nick smoothly said.

"How the fuck did you get all that?" McHorn asked, fed up of all the surprises the fox had.

"Top-Secret bud." Nick plainly said.

"Of course it is." Snarlov said, knowing about the fox's background.

With all officers' present agreeing, they set the plan in motion, and geared up to prevent any savage mammals from turning them into one.

"Officers, follow me." Nick said in an authoritative manner and directed them to the armory 5 stories underground, once they were inside, it was the holy grail of weapons, and everything from a Colt M1911 to an HK Trench-Clearing airburst rifle was there, and of course, fifty kilograms of C4.

"Take what you need; this is the point of all this anyway." Nick said with a hint of sadness, seeing his well spent money going to the ZPD. After arming up, he directed them to the garage and loaded up in the H2 and left for the base.

"Looks like someone is busy." Judy said, in the past 4 hours, all Nick did was plan and arm for the raid. He was so busy he even forgot to give Judy time to talk and just relax for a bit, "Sorry Judy, everyone is very busy for the raid, I will make it up to you. I promise."

"You better." Judy hits his shoulder and Nick lets out a groan of pain, much to the satisfaction of Judy.

Nick flipped a switch that read 'GHOST' and the whole car was suddenly silent having switched to a much more silent secondary engine, but in a much slower speed of 30 mph, all this is necessary to the success of their plan, after all, they don't want to go to the base with a tail full of savage mammals.

25 meters from the gates, they stopped. Nick pulled out a quantum screen and uploaded the codes to the satellite granting them access to the base and headed right for the motor pool, once they were inside Nick inserted the maser key and all vehicles roared to life, all the officers picks which one to drive, just as everyone was ready, Nick spotted an experimental MQ-8B Fire Scout in one of the Hangars. Nick halted the convoy and directed Higgins to drive the command truck with Nick on the pilot controls and with Judy driving the H2.

"Everyone, I need you to divert their attention to the ZPD, we will rendezvous at the fortress." Nick ordered, and the vehicles were on their way to the ZPD, with their heavy engines rolling, savage mammals followed them wherever they go, "Okay the coast is clear, let's go." Nick said and Higgins guns the Armored Command Car, with Nick controlling the drone from the command car and heads to the fortress.

Once inside, they radioed to the diversion that they were safe, only to receive a feared message.

"Snarlov's tracks broke down, we need tow." A worried Chief Bogo said over the radio.

"Can you fix it yourself?" Nick asked.

"We can but the guns on these tanks need codes"

"No shit they need codes; I want you to hold out until the MQ-8B Fire Scout reaches you."

"We're fine as long as we're inside the vehicles" Chief Bogo reassured them.

They encountered a problem with the drone, the whole system was requiring a code before the weapons rail can be mounted. "Okay, 4096-bit encryption, this is easy." Nick said and started typing away in the computer, less than 5 minutes later they cracked it and loaded the drone with a powerful ultrasonic sound emitter that puts pain in the ears of nearby mammals.

"Diversion, there is a switch in the control panel next to the steering controls, I need you to press it, this makes the whole vehicle soundproof."

"What are you going to do Wilde?"

"I'm going to make their ears bleed."

"Diversion, Fire Scout en route, call sign 'Anderson' ETA five minutes." Judy said.

Make it quick, Snarlov is dying to move, he does not like savage mammals over him with alarms blaring inside the APC."

"Anderson is on the way, 2 minutes"

Once Anderson was in place, Judy activated the weapons system and escorted them towards the fortress. The large garage door closing once again marked the success of their raid.

"Now, where are those IR Beacons?"

"Right here." Bogo handed him a black device and mounted them on the top of each one. Now, all that remains were the locked weapons system.

Two agonizing hours in front of the computer resulted in four fully functioning APC's and three tanks. All they have to do send the Chief back home in one of the APC's.

"I'm so sorry guys, but there is not enough room for all of you, I think you know the way back to the ZPA? I'm sure they have enough bunks, they reported being on lockdown but be ready just in case." Nick said, as if sending guests back home from a party.

"It's okay Wilde thanks for the equipment." Wolford replied.

"Don't thank me; thank the military for weak encryptions!" Nick chuckled and with that the APC left for the ZPA, leaving a very impatient Judy in the room.

"Hey fluff, about the making up to you thing, can we do it tomorrow morning, I'm way too tired to do it now." Nick said in the most apologetic way possible, "I promise, it will be worth it."

"Yeah, me too slick, let's just do it tomorrow." Judy said.

"Okay fluff, good night."

"Good Night Nick." Judy said while also thinking of another thing to say to him. 'I love you Nick.'

That night, Judy did not sleep, she just kept thinking about Nick, she never thought that him displaying authority even to the Chief was a big turn on for her, she did not even think about what to do tomorrow, Chief Bogo still needs to sort out the panic from the survivors of the incident and alert the public of what to do in the crisis that gripped the city with more fear than the Night Howler case.


	4. Cliffside Horrors

Days after Outbreak: 1

Days without incident: 0

Savage Mammal count: 476,079

Dead: 0

Survivors: Unknown

The next day...

"Judy, wake up." she woke up to a soothing voice right beside her.

"Morning Nick." she glanced at the clock at her bedside.

"Oh sweet cheese and crackers! Change up Nick, today is the day we are going to find survivors!"

"And Officer fluff has officially clocked in."

By the time they opened the garage, Nick suddenly thought to himself, 'Why did I join that damned intelligence agency?'

 _Somewhere in Zootopia..._

"How did it go?"

"Just as planned boss."

"I want you to make 2 batches of antidotes, 25 per batch."

"Expect it in a week."

 _Back at the garage..._

"Hey fluff, do you want to drive?" Nick asked her in attempt to make her more lively again

"Do I want to drive? Hell yeah!"

"Okay fluff, all the way to the ZPD."

Not long after they left the garage, a savage wolfpack heard the engines and started chasing after them, "Hey Carrots, this is how you pump a .50 cal." and with that, Nick went up the turret, disabled the remote firing mode and manned it himself.

"Oh boy, It's been years since I shot this one." When Judy heard this she was alarmed, 'What is he talking about? He didn't shoot anybody yet." seeing how this might be another joke, Judy brushed it off, concluding that there is no way that he was hiding something from her.

 _Or at least that's how she felt..._

After spending more than fifteen minutes on the road, Judy reached for her radio and listened to classic music when it was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice, "This is Max Michaels, I caused this outbreak, I want you to drop 5 Billion Zootopian Dollars in the alley beside Jerry Jumbeaux Jr.'s shop. If you do, there will be a crate containing antidotes waiting for you at Mole Harbour in the exact same moment you drop it. You have 2 weeks to decide."

Stunned, Judy switched to the secondary engine and gunned the pedal, moving at an insane speed of 30 mph

Once inside the ZPD motor pool, Nick went to the Chief's office and Judy to the lockers.

"Chief, did you hear the broadcast?" Nick asked while barging in enraging the buffalo.

"WHY THE FUCK NO ONE IN THIS PRECINCT KNOCKS BEFORE GOING INSIDE MY OFFICE!?" Bogo yelled, he was sick of everyone just barging in and failing to enjoy his time with the Gazelle app on his phone.

"Because everyone here is only barging in when they give you urgent information, and you need to know all urgent information in the whole ZPD." Judy countered, trying to keep the pressure off of them, all the officers were looking at them trying to find out what caused the buffalo's sudden rage and aggression.

"Okay, Chief Bogo, I need you to know that we are going to secure a path going to Cliffside Asylum, we need you to plan out the best route towards the location for resupply and rotating the SWAT Teams stationed there." Chief Bogo for once, fell silent, he never knew this side of the fox he calls officer, and of all his years at the ZPD, no officer like him displayed an authoritative manner to anyone - including himself - and was surprised when he heard all this from a fox which seven months ago proved him wrong and contributed to cracking a case that included Zootopia's government. He just keep getting surprised by this fox.

"Bullpen, five minutes." was all he got from the buffalo, five minutes later, they all gathered in the bullpen awaiting orders.

"Due to Officer Wilde's insistence we are going to secure Cliffside and cleara route to it, now if there is anyone opposed to this operation, might as well go to traffic enforcement because I have no use of you here." The whole room was silent, satisfied, Bogo went ahead with the plan making and plans to use the Ficus - South Canyon overland route, just when everything was agreed on, Nick could not agree with the route to be taken and starts an arguement.

"You know Chief, if I wanted to avoid surveillance because I was doing something illegal, which I totally haven't, I would take the Rainforest District - Tundratown tunnels, turn left on Maintenance Tunnel 6B, straight through Acacia Alley, Ficus Underpass and South Canyon, and I'm sure that no maintenance occurred there because the next scheduled repair would be in the next two weeks."

"Fine, have it you way. Gear up we load up on the APC's and tanks in 40 minutes, dismissed."

During the time allocated to gear up, Nick went to the lockers instead of the armory and gets his Modified AN Spy 2 helmet with an FFI and HUD, and dons his full body trauma plate armor. Meanwhile, Judy heads to the Firearms Depository to claim their M4 Carbine SOPMOD along with their combat belts with 24 magazines, six grenades and six flashbangs, when they were ready, they went to the garage to load up in the H2 only to find it missing, as it turns up right in front of them, Technical Officer Alex Reynolds made a second control module for the Fire Scout in the cargo compartment, when they met him, Nick gave him the most menacing glare he could muster.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Alex asked confused by the looks on their faces.

"Where did you take the H2?" Nick asked, growling at him.

"I told you didn't I? Check your messages 2:00 am" When Nick looked at his phone, what he said was right, when he asked how he got it running, he simply said that he and 10 other officers just pushed the H2 to the garage and got a key from his pocket, "You left a spare set to the motor pool two days ago so I just took the opportunity to actually do something significant."

"Good job Alex, honestly I don't know how to cram a whole module there." Nick admitted, he saw a talent in Alex, a talent that mirrored his years ago.

"It was all redundant components really so I just copied the console and everything and integrated it to your satellite uplink."

"Seriously though, thanks a lot if you want more tips on building, just ask me." Nick said and with that they loaded up and the eight vehicle convoy left the ZPD.

Travelling at a slow speed of 40 mph, they formed one line all the way the the tunnels, where they had to take turns dodging overturned cars and huge debris that the tracked vehicles cannot roll over.

When they were on sight of Cliffside, they saw the facility on lockdown but the gates were open as if a truck barrelled down on them, they saw the bloodied road with the bodies of the SWAT Team lying down on the road with blood seeping out of their cold bodies.

When the first APC unloaded, the atmosphere was quiet when a high pitched whistle darted across the air, narrowly missing Delgato's mane and going through the arm of McHorn.

"SNIPER!" yelled Nick, he was in such a rush to get Anderson online that the whole system booted in five minutes and was well on its way to Cliffside.

"Everyone! Take cover in the building!" Bogo ordered, and all the vehicles were empty except for the driver and the gunner which scanned the Cliffside if any snipers were there using their IR Sensors, but Nick knows that the sensors were not enough and as if on cue, Anderson arrived with a deadly M134 at the turret mount and four racks of Hellfire missiles were armed and ready for any signs of hostiles.

When they took cover in the building, McHorn was told to go find cover when he was shot again in the leg, cursing colorfully, he lies down and awaits for further orders as the corridor to the Medbay was full of glass pane with iron bars to prevent the original patients from escaping, that did little to no use when it comes to protection.

Just when the sniper shot the round that injured McHorn's leg Anderson's FFI took over and shot the sniper, when it hovered above the body the identity of the shooter was Woolter. Barely Identifiable if it were not for the eyepatch he wore due to the overkill that occured.

When they cleared the perimeter, the challenge of clearing Cliffside came, a challenge that they never should have accepted.

 **Post A/N:**

 **Hey guys! Thank you for giving this story a shot at reading, if you like it, don't forget to follow this story and if you love it, forget to mark it as you favorite as it greatly motivates me to see another person appreciating my work.**

 **I bumped up the rating just to be on the good side of things...**

 **Until next time!**

 **\- Nicholas P.**


	5. Under Attack

Days after Outbreak: 1

Days without incident: 0

Savage Mammal count: 476,079

Survivors: Unknown

 **Chapter Five - Under Attack**

"Fangmeyer, take Wolford, McHorn and Hopps to the medical ward, Chief, Snarlov, Higgins, you're with me" Nick said taking charge once again and surprising the buffalo of how the tone of the fox was.

"Roger that, Nick." Was all it took before the officers complied, the atmosphere was cold but the lights were on, and when they were left alone, they headed straight for the offices of the doctors stationed there, once they saw blood marks on the floor, they quickly switched from tranquilizers to lethal ammunition as an encounter on such tight spaces was highly dangerous and a tranquilizer takes about five seconds before they take effect and that is something that they don't need right now.

Just when they entered the office of Dr. Nicholas Phillips, a screen monitor popped a message that was visible to the police officers.

A message that revealed their location.

Once Nick saw the message, they were relieved to find them safe in a secret lab that he and Snarlov recognizes.

"Chief Bogo, we better rejoin the others." Nick said flatly, fearing his authoritative tone might attract the ire of the buffalo that looked extremely irritated by his behavior.

"If you keep this up Officer, I might promote you to a captain one of these days." Bogo joked, but maintains a serious face in order to keep his reputation intact.

* * *

 _Meanwhile at the medical ward..._

"Okay, first aid, bandages…" Judy said out loud in a rush to treat McHorn's wounds, the bullets passed through his hide and exited at the opposite end which means that when Woolter shot him, he was using a High Velocity sniper rifle, a kind that is currently banned in the firearms market due to its destructive potential, and McHorn has been the first to get hit in years.

"Jeez man, if that guy had a rifle that can pierce through me, what more their equipment!" McHorn said, terrified of the events that transpired, apparently Max planned to ambush them at the Asylum but did not know they were heavily armored, except of course, the officers which were wearing standard SWAT vests which left portions of their body armor free unlike Judy and Nick wearing full body trauma armor that provided little space to effectively injure them, except for the head.

Once Cliffside was cleared, there was one thing left for them to do, go to City Hall and activate the Air Raid Warning System to instruct the people to move to the secure underground shelters and hold out until support helps them, all they need to do is secure it, which is easier said than done.

Once the rest of the building was cleared, they loaded up to the vehicles and went to City Hall backtracking the route they used to go to Cliffside and stopping at a road blocked by overturned cars.

"No shit." Nick Grabbed his radio and said "This is Wilde, send the APC's over, the tanks will use another route."

"But it's going to take 15 minute to circle around this mess!" Higgins protested, fifteen years on the force gave him abilities such as getting the ETA to a certain place at any time of the day.

"I don't give a damn how long it takes, just meet us at City Hall." And with that, the force divided into two, Nick's team of APC's were given the codename 'Hornet One' and Bogo's all-tank team was codenamed 'Hornet Two' and seconds later, the force went their separate ways, with Hornet One taking the direct route and Hornet Two circling around.

"Hey Judy, what's the status on Anderson?"Nick asked frantically while trying to secure air support for their vulnerable forces of only Bradley APC's.

"Anderson is Bingo on fuel, where should I land it?" Judy asked, hoping for Nick to say something surprising again.

"Can you land Anderson at the ZPD? I'm sure they have some sort of refueling module there." Nick hoped, he never actually knew if there was a refueling module at the ZPD but he sure knows there is a Helipad.

"Okay Nick, I'll try." And with that Judy landed Anderson at the ZPD and radioed to Clawhauser.

"Clawhauser, I need you to refuel the drone at the helipad now! We split from the main group and need air support, we don't know what's hiding in these walls." Judy said, in an authoritative yet caring tone. As to Nick's harsh and strict sounding voice.

"Okay, give me ten minutes." Clawhauser immediately said and headed for the helipad.

"Do you think Clawhauser runs fast?" Judy asked, slightly doubting the cheetah's speed and the amount of time to refuel that he gave her.

"I don't know fluff but it's about damn time we find out."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, at Hornet Two…_

"Hornet Two, I need you to scan every possible direction for hostiles, we don't know what to expect so keep your fingers off the triggers, we don't want any dead civilians on this one." Shortly after Bogo said that, a huge military truck pulled up right in front of them, and an explosion on the left side of the tank in which Bogo was in prompted Snarlov to shout into the radio.

"AMBUSH‼" Higgins gunned the pedal and crashed into the truck in front of them as small arms fire enveloped the vehicles.

"This is Hornet Two! We are ambushed at Pine street! Request air support!" Bogo barked into the radio, only to get a flat response from Hornet One.

"Hornet Two this is Hornet One, negative on the Air support, Anderson is still refueling. Two Minutes." Was all Nick could say, although the Bradley has thinner armor, it has heavier offensive capabilities thanks to its TOW missile launchers on each side of the turret.

"Clawhauser, we need Anderson now!" Judy screamed at the radio, deafening Nick and herself for a good few seconds. "Detach the line I don't care if its full or not just do it!"

"Okay, okay, its detached, your clear for takeoff!" Clawhauser said before the cheetah was nearly blown away when Judy flew Anderson away.

 _Somewhere in Zootopia…_

"Sir, the ambush is going well but we missed the APC's." a polar bear said fearfully, as if the person he was talking to was his master.

"How long before you can ambush the APC's?" Max said to the trembling polar bear.

"Fifteen minutes' sir." The polar bear replied.

"Good." Max said, "Send three assault units to the APC's location, we are going to obliterate the last of the ZPD."

"Sir, they have a drone coming!" a badger alerted the panther.

"What!? I thought you said there were only APC's and tanks?" the panther raged. "Send the assault teams to the APC's and shoot down that drone! You will never get away this time, Piberius."

* * *

 _Back in the battle…_

"Hornet One! Where is that air support?" Bogo shouted, crapped out because of the fact that the savage animals were not attacking their attackers and the only guns that were shooting were the machine guns at the top opening and the main guns were not firing because of a certain switch not flipped.

"Hornet Two, you have tanks! Shoot them damn it!" Nick was really pissed now, _'Why can't they use their damn heads?'_ he thought, and that's where he slipped out of place.

"We can't there is a switch somewhere! And be careful with your mouth Wilde I'm still your superior!" Chief Bogo said, putting Nick back to his place as rookie police officer.

"Okay there is a chip below the gun mount, I need you to take it off its sockets and start firing." Nick instructed, forgetting that the tanks they stole was equipped with TUSK armor and as a result another safety chip was hidden in the gun mount. A chip that he forgot to remove.

Once Bogo followed the instructions and radioed it to the others, their guns were unlocked and they were free to shoot any hostiles they see, with the tanks rocking every time they shoot due to the huge recoil on the behemoth gun that the tanks was equipped with.

One by one, the opponents' strength dwindled, and in less than ten minutes from the first shot of the firefight, the battle was over, little did they know that they were regrouping to attack Hornet Two…

"Hornet Two this is Hornet One, I want you to go full speed to the City Hall, I have a bad feeling something big is going to happen." Nick said over the radio, aware of what just happened to Hornet Two and their sudden ambush, Nick instructed the group to take off their safety chip under their 20mm Bushmaster Autocannons and to arm their TOW Missile Launchers.

Just when Hornet One reached City Hall, four explosions occurred blocking every exit except one, luckily it was the route of Hornet Two that was unblocked. Once they were in position, heavy arms fire enveloped the vehicles causing some of the reactive plate armor to explode on contact, desperately needing to inform everyone in the city, Nick ordered Wolford to find and activate the Air Raid Warning System while the rest holds the position and await reinforcements from Hornet Two.

"Carrots I need you to arm the Sonic Weapons System and activate it on my signal." Nick ordered her only to get a confused response.

"We are outside! Use your head!" Judy argued trying to catch on with what he's thinking.

"Exactly! Just do it!" Nick shouts just as Delgato receives a bullet in the stomach. "Fall back inside the APC's" Nick ordered to prevent any more injuries to his team and radios Hornet Two, "Hornet Two where the Hell are you? Delgato got hit in the stomach!"

"Hornet One, we are five minutes away." Bogo replied desperately trying to calm down the vulpine.

"Five minutes' boys! Where is Wolford?" Nick asked and two minutes later he went back with sirens all over Zootopia blaring, alarming the public to stay in their houses, now they have the upper hand, anyone that stays outside is a terrorist.

"Fangmeyer, Wolford, load up Delgato in the H2." Nick ordered, Delgato was on the ground bleeding moderately on the ground, Nick pulled his kit, opened a ShotPak and applied it in the bullet wound of the tiger, although he cursed Nick for being rash, he immediately apologized to Nick knowing that it was only for his own good, Nick on the other hand was surprised that an officer knows how to control himself even when under pressure and with a gunshot wound that stung like hell.

Just when Delgato was loaded inside the H2, the reinforcement arrived, gunning down enemies in hiding and in plain sight and were silenced in mere minutes after their arrival, once City Hall was secured, they located Mayor Lionheart at the bunker and resupplied the bunker, meanwhile Nick gunned the pedal and headed straight for the ZPD.

Judy was exhausted, after what happened today, she needed to rest- Lots of rest -and Judy was showing it by sleeping in the H2, only to be shaken awake by an alarm stating that a missile was headed straight for Anderson, hastily flipping the switch for flares, she also performed an evasive maneuver and sent Anderson ahead to Precinct One to prevent any more problems.

When they arrived at the motor pool, the Medical Officers went to action, they transferred Delgato to a gurney and wheeled him straight to the infirmary.

"Hey Nick, is he gonna be alright?" Judy asked, seeing the bloodied car seat on the H2.

"Don't worry Carrots he's gonna survive" Nick quickly answered and proceeded to calm Judy, "There, there, was that your first firefight?" Nick asked her, seeing her visibly shaken from the previous events.

"Was that my first firefight? Yes. Yes it was." Judy said in a manner like Nick's breaking the tension between them.

"Well now I know you're okay."

Just when they ended the conversation, a small but loud sound filled the room, everyone recognized it as a bullet ricocheting the armored metal plate, but another bullet made it through a weak spot in the plate and hit Nick at his upper right chest.

"TAKE COVER!" was all he could say.

* * *

 **Post A/N:**

 **So this is officially the first chapter I made for this story in the current time and as you can see, Venomheart the Dreamer's review already took effect, the last two chapters were made last February and I only had the guts publish it last July 4 and also getting a proper storyline for the story, keep in mind that when you post a review, I will read and I will pay attention to it.**

 **Until next time!**

 **\- Nicholas P.**


	6. Siege of Precinct One

**Chapter Six - Siege of Precinct One**

"Take Cover!" Nick said as loud as he could after getting bullet in the upper right region of his chest, the armored casing was supposed to stop the round but for some reason, it manages to go through the armored casing which was designed to resist small arms fire, but the hole on Nick's uniform indicated that it was hardly small arms fire as it was the size of a .50 caliber round and was hurting like hell as the bullet smashed into him before getting lodged inside the Fox's body.

"Judy, I'm sorry..." was all he could say before his mind drifted away into an unconscious state, Judy was confused by what he said, staring at him with confusion and fear.

"Medic! Ready the Medbay! Clawhauser! Get on that radio and tell them that we are under attack!" Judy said in the most shocked manner Nick could expect from her, Judy was so busy telling and barking orders that she forgot to take cover and only realized to do so when another round ricocheted off the armored casing strong points.

When Bogo heard the situation at the precinct, the whole Hornet task force was ordered to go to the ZPD at full speed as the fall of their headquarters could disastrously damage their morale much more than it needed to be.

Back at the ZPD, the situation of Nick's health was becoming critical is getting worse every second, while the bulk of the ZPD's firepower is on route everyone was taking shelter at the room at the square center of the building, with Judy carrying a mobile short wave radio to maintain communication to the forces outside the precinct.

"Chief Bogo, what's your twenty?" Judy asked him anxiously waiting for their arrival and also because the fact that there is a highly skilled sniper out they with a rifle that could pierce through the walls of the ZPD.

"We are fifteen minutes out from Higgins' estimate, what's the situation there Hopps?" Bogo asked firmly but with care, showing his concern for the safety of his officers.

"Officer Wilde has been shot, the casing protecting us has been breached and we are currently hiding out at the bullpen because it's the safest one we got. " Judy said quickly trying to give Bogo as much information she can give him as it was the only chance they have to survive the siege of ZPD Precinct One.

"Is Wilde okay?"

"Yes sir, he is currently being treated at the Medbay as we speak. " Judy said with a hint of fear, fearing that Nick would not come out the same way he went in.

"Here's what I want you do Hopps, there is an armory for high caliber weapons at my office, the code is 639103211999." Bogo instructed her in order for them to hold out while they were still 10 minutes away from precinct one.

"Yes sir, arming the officers now. " and ask quickly as that, she dashed from cover to cover and ran up the stairs to Bogo's office, unlocked the safe, and with the help off the other officers they set up a cover that was made out of lockers from the locker rooms and making a small hole in the center that's big enough to use an M21 sniper rifle with infrared sight and with the added con of having a very limited field of vision.

And then, an idea sprang on Judy's head, "I need a bait. You there! I need you to run to that cover on the left on my signal you got that?" The ram nervously shook and asked the panther to give her the rifle and a few seconds later after she steadied her aiming, she gave the signal. "Now!" And the ram ran to the cover as fast as he could, but when he did that, the sniper fired a shot, and with the infrared sight on the rifle it wasn't hard to find out where the shot was from and once she caught sight of the sniper, he shot him straight at the head. Immediately after the shot, the whole precinct was silent and after a few minutes thought back to what she just did, _'I just shot a mammal.'_ But her conscience wrestled away that thought, justifying that if she did not shoot him, they would be in a much dire state than they are right now.

Once Task Force Hornet arrived Nick was already standing up and mock saluting the chief, much to Bogo's confusion.

"I thought you said Wilde was shot Hopps!" A raging buffalo yelled at her, "You better have a good explanation why he is still up and kicking with that smug idiotic grin on his face!"

Judy too was dumbfounded, she thought Nick was shot with a very high caliber round that pierced the armored casing of the ZPD headquarters.

"Nick? I thought you were shot! " Judy asked with genuine care in her voice. Only to get a maniacal laugh from Nick.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Was all Nick could say, before they could ask him another question, he opened up his uniform to reveal a hardened titanium plate covering all vital organs in the body. "I got something that saved my life but it did not save my bones, bruises and a harrowing crack on the rib but nothing more serious. I always wear this just in case times like this happen."

"Th-then why did you fall unconscious?" Judy asked between sobs, genuinely worried about the vulpine's health.

"I got stunned that's all, It's not easy to stay awake after a large caliber round suddenly hits you, you know." Nick said trying desperately to calm the now crying rabbit, "Oh you bunnies, so emotional." And those words were all it took to silence the bunny, which was now relaxed after realizing that he was right, he is now standing up cracking jokes and acting as if nothing happened.

A few minutes after their episode of comfort, automatic fire started to ricochet of the armored casing of the ZPD, immediately after the first shots were fired, Nick jumped to the Bradley parked outside the ZPD and shot 20mm rounds to the enemy positions scattered all over the front of the ZPD.

"Officers! Return Fire!" Bogo yelled and as soon as the officers heard this, they grabbed their guns and pushed the locker defense to the doors of the ZPD and returned fire to the enemy, once they thought they were winning, a modified UH-1 HUEY mounted with Hydra rockets and a 40mm chain gun mounted at a turret below the pilot's seat that started hammering to the tanks parked in front of it.

"Nick! Blow up that helicopter!" Judy yelled into the radio, with Nick responding quickly.

"Copy that Carrots." Nick said back and armed the TOW missile launchers on the side of the turret and shot all four missiles to the helicopter with devastating effect as the helicopter did not even need to crash as it broke up in midair, and as soon as Nick saw the wreckage of the helicopter, he continued to hammer the enemy position with minor effect.

After finding out that the weapon was highly ineffective he theorizes that they were either heavily equipped with vests or they were entrenched in the buildings. Once Nick figures out a plan that depends heavily in the vehicles, he quickly shouts, "Cover me!" And as soon as they heard this, Chief Bogo gave them the signal.

"Covering fire!" And when Nick heard this, he darted through the vehicles and went to the tank at the middle of the formation. As soon as he was inside, he turned on the weapons system and said to the radio.

"Snarlov, Wolford, Fangmeyer, Judy get to the tank." Nick ordered them but was cut off by Bogo.

"What are you doing Wilde? Your cutting the effective force here in half!" Bogo said, doubting it whatever the fox was thinking would work, after all he is just a rookie.

"Trust me Chief. Just this once." Nick said, and after hearing a snort over the radio, the officers he requested for arrived and assigned them their tasks, "Judy, get to the driver's seat, Fangmeyer, get to the loader's position, Wolford, you're the gunner, Snarlov, man the .50 cal." Nick said as he took the commander's post and ordered Judy to move the tank to the enemy's position and told Snarlov to shoot anyone shooting at them with Wolford holding his fire until further orders.

The tank inched slowly towards the enemy lines and when the tank was about 20 meters from the enemy trench, he told Wolford to fire at will, while Snarlov was changing his third barrel after it overheated and ruptured, the same thing that happened to the other two barrels the went before it.

Once they were making good progress, Snarlov saw a mammal wielding an AT-4 disposable rocket launcher, Snarlov quickly alerted the tank crew but it was too late for Judy to move the tank as the rocket was already launched from its launcher by the time Judy made her futile attempt to move it out of the way. Expecting the end, she closed her eyes until the rocket impacted, only to find her safe inside the driver's compartment.

"Ha! Those bastards don't have anything that could pierce the armor on this tank!" Nick said out loud only to be cut off by Snarlov.

"Sir, they are flying the white flag, we win." And with that, they celebrated, while the officers from the precinct walked out, cuffed them and formed a line going to the precinct with Snarlov threatening to shoot if they try to escape.

When they were locked up inside the cells, Judy turned to Nick and Snarlov and asked them, "Hey Snarlov, what did you call _Sir_ Wilde again?" All she got as a response was a face that screamed one word; _'Shit.'_

"Oh it's just because of a bet officer fluff." Nick smoothly said, "You see, Snarlov said that I could never intimidate or even say a word to Bogo without him getting angry at me, as it turns out, I won the bet ten minutes ago." Nick said but the look on Judy's face meant that she wasn't buying it.

"Riiiight. And it took effect in the battle?" Judy stated, as-a-matter-of-factly that surprised the fox, "This isn't you Nick, what's happening?" Judy asked, wanting to get to the bottom of all the things that happened.

"Drop it Judy." Nick flatly said, without a hint of care in his voice.

"But Nick, I really need to..." Judy tried to reason, only to be cut off by Nick.

"I said drop it." Nick said not even noticing the tears forming on Judy's eyes.

"Judy, just drop it and trust me okay?" Nick said with Judy nodding in reply.

"Get a room you two!" Bogo snorted, and continued "Now what the hell was that out there?" Chief Bogo roared, desperately needing his questions answered not for his same but for everyone to know.

"That Chief, is what Max Michaels can do." Nick said, with a hint of fear in his voice.

"So you're telling me that we are facing a terrorist organization? Or a fucking army?" Bogo asked, plain sick of surprises that the whole situation was hiding and how highly skilled were their adversaries that ZPD Should have fallen if it weren't for the equipment by the military.

"Sir, I need you to get everything the ZPD has on Max Michaels, we have to cooperate of we are ever going to get the city back to normal." Nick said in an authoritative yet respectful way.

"Higgins, go to the records room and pull out the box labeled Max Michaels, everything should be there." Bogo ordered Higgins and he quickly went to the records room and pulled out a box that had the same label on it as described by the Chief.

"There, is that enough?" Bogo asked Nick.

"That is more than enough sir." Nick replied with the sincerest voice he could later at the moment.

"Now, after witnessing all this fucking mess unfold right in front of me, it is clear that Officer Wilde has the commendable capacity to lead a team of officers, even when under pressure, and for that, I will personally make sure that you will revive the Medal of Honor. And as of now, you are officially promoted. Lieutenant Wilde." The buffalo said only said in the most serious tone he could muster, "Don't make me regret it Lieutenant."

"I'll make you proud Chief." Nick said with a smirked plastered on his face, only to be cut off by the Chief.

"Honestly, I don't care as long as you do what you're told." Bogo snorted, clearly having a reputation to maintain among his officers.

* * *

 _Somewhere in Zootopia..._

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!" Max raged and threw a tablet across the room.

"Sir, I'm sorry, I promise it won't happen again." The polar bear trembled.

"I know you won't." He pointed a gun at the polar bear's head and pulled the trigger.

"Get this trash out of my sight!" He yelled, and two mammals carried the dead polar bear's body out of the room.

"What's their decision? Have they made their minds up?" Max asked an antelope in front of a screen.

"N-n-not yet sir." The antelope was swept from shock as he visibly shook in front of the panther.

"Tighten the schedule, give them two days." Max said and the antelope obeyed, before he could do the task, the panther called him again. "Why are you shaking?" He asked.

"Because you might shoot me any second." He reluctantly answered.

"Don't worry I won't kill you." He reassured him. "For now."

* * *

 **Post A/N:**

 **So I'm back after a relaxed weekend, these chapters will keep rolling out. please leave a review and follow the story!**

 **Until next time!**

 **-Nicholas P.**


	7. The Retreat to Phase Line X-ray

**Chapter Seven – The Retreat to Phase Line X-Ray**

"Now, after witnessing all this fucking mess unfold right in front of me, it is clear that Officer Wilde has the commendable capacity to lead a team of officers, even when under pressure, and for that, I will personally make sure that you will revive the Medal of Honor. And as of now, you are officially promoted. Lieutenant Wilde." The buffalo said only said in the most serious tone he could muster, "Don't make me regret it Lieutenant."

"I'll make you proud Chief." Nick said with a smirked plastered on his face, only to be cut off by the Chief.

"Honestly, I don't care as long as you do what you're told." Bogo snorted, clearly having a reputation to maintain among his officers.

"Now, shall we get down to business?" Nick said, taking control of the remaining fifty officers that survived the siege, "I want everyone to fix this mess get everything that is paramount to your survival, rifles, vests, and the like, I don't care about what you do as long as everyone is loaded up on the APC's by 1500hrs." and shortly after this the officers went to work cleaning the mess and the ZPD as much as possible before leaving.

"Nick, what are you doing?" Judy asked, "There has never been a situation like this and there was never a contingency plan that I know that covers massive terrorist attacks on Zootopia."

"We are sounding a retreat; we are going to activate a distress signal at the Radio Room that directs all surviving officers to Phase Line X-Ray." Nick said while looking at Judy at eye level, "I know it hurts Carrots, but you can't win a war by advancing every time, you have to rest, recuperate, and plan to be successful."

Those words calmed Judy much better than Nick thought, but there it's still one question lingering in her mind, "Hey Nick, where is Phase Line X-Ray?" She asked, only to get a smirk from Nick.

"You'll see Carrots, you'll see."

Two hours later, the remaining officers were already loaded up, with the exception of 22 other officers that rode at the hull of the M2 Abrams due to their massive size or simply because there are not enough seats inside the M3A3 Bradley, moving at a decent speed of 38 mph, the convoy left the ZPD Precinct for this so called 'Phase Line X-Ray' that Nick was talking about. Even Bogo's face was not entirely convinced, but due to the current circumstances Judy speculated that he was letting Nick take charge, this time.

' _Wait, I know where this road leads to!'_ Judy thought, and at the moment she said this, the intimidating perimeter wall of a familiar base, _"Zootopia Joint Forces Base Bravo is the nearest military installation from this place, and we are going to raid it."_ She thought back on the day of the outbreak, the day all this started, from the cheetah at the ZPD to infecting hundreds of mammals that were nearby, predator and prey were infected but oddly enough they were not attacking each other.

"Alright everyone dismount! Secure the base and set up camp. This is gonna be your new home for the next hundred years!" Nick said, earning a chuckle and a few suppressed laughs from the group. "Everyone, group yourselves in groups of three – chalks – and two chalks will form a squad…" Nick went around, assigning everyone their numbers and team mates, oddly enough, the chalk Judy was in comprised of Nick and Snarlov, which was unexpected to her as the friendly looking bear could barely handle the flow of jokes the Fox would say.

"Hey Snarlov, what made you join our chalk?" Judy asked, to which the polar bear answered politely.

"I just wanted to see more action you know, because it sounds like every time we do something, you get to have the interesting parts." Snarlov replied in such a way that he sounded like a teenager that hasn't been thrilled for a long time.

"…start securing the base, the quicker you do it, the sooner you could rest. Dismissed." Nick said, wrapping up the briefing. The base was still locked, and the best way to unlock a base on lockdown is through the command center. As the other officers went around securing the ammo cache, barracks, hangars and painstakingly checking the runway for damages on foot.

"When Judy's Chalk as assigned to clear the command center, they stumbled upon a garbled radio transmission, as it turns out, the Radio Room equipment at the ZPD is malfunctioning, and is giving off unintelligible words, as soon as the base started transmitting the coordinates that were supposed to be transmitted by the ZPD, a sound was heard over an equipment that looked like a radio, but it was designed to listen in to any frequency that could be used by enemy forces, and right now, it caught the frequency of an unknown operative.

"This is Savage, execute." As soon as Nick heard the operators voice, his eyes widened full of shock, but all of this was gone when they heard an awfully raging buffalo over the radio.

"All units! Set up defensive positions all over the base! NOW!" Bogo yelled, and all officers were set up all around the base, with intentions to outflank and give them the illusion of being outnumbered.

As soon as the gates of the base opened, five heavy MRAP Cougars barreled through it and stopped in front of the command building, a few minutes later a voice spoke through a loudspeaker. "This is Special Agent Savage, come out with your hands up." And a few minutes later a warning shot went off, barely missing the control tower of the airfield.

After the warning shot was sounded, the officers, Abrams tanks and the M3 Bradley's encircle the MRAP's and trained their guns on them. "This is Lieutenant Nicholas Wilde of the Zootopia Police Department, we have you surrounded, power down your vehicles and step out with your hands up." Nick's voice boomed through the base P.A. and the moment they heard this, they stepped out the car, with Nick running over to the vehicles to see the faces that were behind them.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Agent Jack Savage and the ever astonishing Agent Skye Winter!" Nick said, with a smug grin on his face.

"Wait, what? Is that you Pibe…"

"Shut up, they don't need to hear that, call me Lieutenant Wilde, Agent Winter." Nick said quickly, cutting off the vixen mid-sentence.

"Whatever Wilde, I assume you hacked into the base and used the master key?" Jack asked skipping the formalities.

Confused faces were looking at them, with Nick realizing that he is going to have one hell of an explanation later. "WILDE! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT JACKRABBIT AND THAT FOX!?" Bogo yelled, only to get a flat response from Nick.

"Later sir, we have a briefing to attend. Command center in 10 minutes MOVE!" Nick roared, it even silenced the buffalo that never got used to being shouted at.

* * *

At the command center, all officers sat down; Nick, Jack and Skye standing at the front with Nick holding a satellite phone.

After making a few calls and getting no response, Nick nudged Jack, a signal that meant to begin.

"I am going to introduce myself." Jack said, breaking the silence that filled the room. "I am Special Agent Jack Savage, and I work for the Interior Security Agency." After saying this, the officers started throwing questions were thrown at him, only to be silenced by Nick.

"I am Special Agent Skye Winter, and I work for the Interior Security Agency." They threw her confused looks, and looks that looked like something else. And started to talk to each other.

"I am Former Special Agent Piberius of the Interior Security Agency, and I used to be their partner." Nick's words silenced the room once again. "Rest assured that I am not a sleeper agent, I am still a Lieutenant in the ZPD. As much as we want to tell you what we do, I'm afraid it is all top secret." All officers threw him a look that screamed 'Traitor.'

"Yes, but." Jack interjected "What we can tell you is this, we are the only allies you have; the whole agency was overrun and same goes for the military. Whatever are in those trucks are the last equipment owned by the ISA, right now, we have a lead on Max Michaels, we think he is staying at the Rainforest District, and our plan includes the fact that they tightened their dead line to the next two days and also the fact that the savage animals to not attack them, instead, they run away from the noise generated by them especially when they are in battle."

"So is it Night Howler?" Wolford piped up, trying to make sense of everything that happened.

"Yes, it is but it has been genetically modified to resist the antidote, the antidote works because the Night Howler works like this, the Night Howler works by dulling the senses that makes us civilized and stimulating the senses that we ca describe as savage, the antidote works by stimulating the dulled senses to even out the two, but in this case, our doctors in a secret location, concluded that both senses are of the same level, with neither the 'Savage senses' above the 'Civilized senses' nor 'Civilized senses' above the 'Savage senses'." Skye wrapped up leaving the rest to Nick.

"Yes, and as you can see, we may have a crooked Doctor at the Center for Disease Control, or at Cliffside, I highly doubt the latter as Cliffside was only an observation and holding facility for savage mammals, not a place for genetic modifications." Nick inserted "Okay, everyone any questions?" when Nick said this, the previous questions that were thrown at them died down, "Use the barracks to bunk for the Night, My Chalk will take first shift and will be replaced by Jacks team at 0200hrs, Dismissed."

Nick said as he casually went to the control tower, not even waiting for Judy to catch up, he sat down at a seat in front of a console, and thought, _'Is Judy angry at me? Why didn't I tell her that? I'm such an idiot.'_ And thought about other similar things, berating himself for being a fool, his thoughts were interrupted as Judy and Snarlov entered the tower, with Judy sitting at a chair beside Nick.

"Hey Judy, I'm so sorry for lying to you, I was gonna tell you someday but…" Nick was at a loss for words, "But I thought it would ruin our friendship. I hope you can forgive me." Just as when he tried to stood up, Judy talked.

"I'm not angry dumb fox, I'm just surprised you have a far darker backstory rather than your shallow hustles." Judy said, playfully hitting his arm, a habit that he had grown used to over the year he stayed at the ZPD.

"Wait, you aren't mad at me?" Nick asked to clarify things _'Does she actually like my old background as an agent?'_ he asked himself, he was expecting a very different reaction with possibilities from a slap to a break in their friendship, after all Judy trusted Nick, and he can't bear himself from hiding his history from her, his partner, and if he was her, he never would have forgiven him.

"You know I could never get mad at my partner, even though you're an ass sometimes." Judy retorted, trying to break the ice that formed around them ever since the incident.

"Hey Snarlov, can you go check if you can fix this control center? I want to have airstrikes on standby using the giant GE Avenger drones they have lying around here." And with that Snarlov left the room leaving Nick and Judy alone for the first time since the day the outbreak occurred, a much needed alone time since the past few days resulted in an epidemic, revelation of Nick's former Identity and the eventual confrontation of the Internal Security Agency.

"Judy." Nick started, hoping to spark a conversation that could pass the time, only for it to become a conversation with a sour note. "Are you afraid of me, now that you know who I am?"

"Actually now that I think about it, I think that it's hot to have an ex-special agent as a partner, might come in handy in a difficult situation." Judy grinned, nothing is as satisfying as telling someone they are just being used, or at least, that's what Judy thought.

"Wow Carrots, first thing you think once you learn that your cop boyfriend was an ex special agent is the talents that could possibly save your fur?" Nick asked in such a condescending way that even Judy was beginning to tear up, and Nick thought that it was about what he said. "Hey Carrots, I didn't mean it that way…"

"No Nick, don't be sorry, I just can't believe that you consider me to be your girlfriend." Judy said with happy tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh you bunnies, so emotional." Nick said slyly, as the truth of those words were being displayed right in front of him.

"Hey Piberius." Jack said while barging into the room, breaking their moment. "It's our shift now, you might wanna continue this at your room." Jack grinned, the first time in so many years that he got back to him.

They both stood up and headed for the doorway when a sudden blur of white hugged him from behind. "Its nice meeting you again Piberius, I expected you to be a bit cranky though. How long has it been? eight years?" Skye asked Nick with genuine curiosity in her voice.

"it's been fifteen Skye, fifteen years, I thought you moved past that." Nick said as he passed through the doorway leaving a shattered vixen and a stoic bunny inside.

"I told you Skye, move on, he sure as hell did." Jack spat out, getting a stinging rebuke from the vixen.

"You never know anything about love Jack." Skye said, silently crying inside the room.

' _Oh what the hell. Come on Jack! It's your chance!'_ His mind said, only to be silenced by himself as his sense of duty came first than love.

* * *

At the Base Commander's office…

"Okay Nick, what was that all about?" Judy said in a dead tone manner while stripping down and getting her belt while moving it as how one would use a whip resulting in Nick sweating heavily and taking down a gulp.

' _Oh shit.'_

* * *

 **Post A/N: I may or may not slow down in the making of these chapters as i am hitting a writers block and since this story in dwindling in terms of views. - it has an all time low of nine views and four visitors last Saturday - I sometimes even think that only a fraction of people were interested in this story so I decided to stop when it suddenly spiked and reached 62 views and 29 visitors last Sunday, so with a record of 320 views and 116 visitors, I want to tell you that I am having thoughts about making a prequel - as soon as I'm done with this of course - and making it as a catalyst in making this story more interesting for other readers, the prequel will be about Nick's time at the ISA so stay tuned and please spare some time to make a review about the story as I have no idea if you are liking it or not. (I think Venomheart's review is the main reason why this story is hanging on fibers.) But I don't blame him really - anyone has a right to hate - but I still can't resist that feeling.  
**

 **With all that said, I will be busy again for the next few days deciding to write or to put the story on temporary hiatus - classes start on July 12 - until my update frequency lowers progressively.**

 **Until next time!**

 **-Nicholas Phillips**

* * *

 **P.S. I studied every word in the fictionpress ratings and figured that its best for this story to remain on a Mature rating, the name changed too to make it unique to other stories, and and the same reason goes to my username as too many authors has "Nicholas" on their names and decided to make it unique.**


	8. The Deadline

**Chapter Eight - The Deadline**

"Okay Nick, what was that all about?" Judy said in a dead tone manner while stripping down and getting her belt while moving it as how one would use a whip resulting in Nick sweating heavily and taking down a gulp.

'Oh shit.'

"Uh, Fluff. That was fifteen years ago." Nick tried to reason, only resulting in Judy to continue her advance carrying her heavy utility belt.

"I don't care when it how long it has been. Spill. The. Beans." She continued, pressuring the fox to speak.

"Okay, let me sit down first, you won't like it though." Nick began to sit down at the desk, with Judy sitting down in front of him.

 _ **Flashback…**_

"It was fifteen years ago when I was 17 years old."

"I was still a stupid young Tod back then, never really thought about life, never cared if I passed or not, but one day during class, there was a new transferee named Skye Zenith Winter. I thought she was just another arctic fox, slightly shorter than me, has pure white fur, and a cheering personality. It turns out that she is a good and honest student, however, stereotypes played another role and as a result, she got paired up with the only other fox in the room, me." Nick said, fighting back his emotions that ran through his veins.

"She introduced herself as Skye and said that she lives in Tundratown, but her accent made it obvious that she was from Italy, and her love of Ferrari's made it clear that she was from Maranello, the center of Ferrari cars. I always get annoyed by her during that time, she is cheerful, and likes to act silly while I was pessimistic and serious."

"She changed my life really, I became much more open to other mammals when she came, she convinced me to think of life in a positive way, which was ironically, not the kind of Nick that you met during our first encounter."

"During one of the lunch breaks at school, I saw her getting picked on by a group of Timberwolves, they thought that Skye stole their money after losing them somewhere at the canteen, it was given to them later after everything that happened but before that, they pushed her to the ground, I saw this and rushed to her aid and in return I got beaten up so bad that the Dean was so kind to let me recuperate for a week and the Timberwolves were expelled."

"After that incident, I became much more loving, caring, and protective to her, no one knew that I loved her at that point, they only assumed that us foxes were just sticking together and getting each other out of trouble. And every day progressed at a slow rate, first were a few hugs then quick pecks at the cheeks and the farthest we got were kissing by the muzzle because, as you know, foxes mate for life."

"When classes ended, we both excelled in computer engineering, we were approached by an ISA recruiter and told us that they needed new 'workers' for their 'company', when we asked him how much is out entrance payment and our monthly salary and we were shocked by the numbers, so we instantly applied and went through their grueling eight-month course on physical exercise and mental preparedness. They even included a physical course where all recruits had to be nude, needless to say that I got a very shameful situation during that course as it was a co-ed kind of a course."

"Anyways, after that we all went dark, even I can't tell you the kind of operations we took, but I can tell you this, me and Skye were the most efficient team at the ISA and if our missions weren't too secret we could have gotten the medal of honor."

"So why did you drop out?" Judy inserted

"There was a Capture and Interrogate mission on a Downtown Mafia Boss for his involvement of selling drugs, underground fighting rings, and hits on other mammals lives. When we captured him, it was all too easy, we were at the back of an armored truck with him chained and muzzled, but what we did not know was that his comrades placed a bomb on the road, as a result a trainee agent and five other agents were killed. I could never forgive myself for that, I caused the deaths of six agents in total. I was so motivated by capturing him that I forgot about myself and the other agents, instead of taking the safe and cleared route. I instructed them to use the fastest way to the ISA."

"Why were you so rushed in capturing him?" Judy asked again.

"Have you heard of the July 27 attacks?" Nick asked, sadness and fear evident in his voice.

"Yeah the attack at the festival at Deerbrooke County." Judy recalled.

"Well, my mom and I were visiting the county at that time, when the bomb went off, she was a bit too near to the blast and ended up in a coma. Three weeks in the ICU and released two months later after intensive rehabilitation. That's why I wanted to get him to justice as fast as possible."

"Anyways, after that failed mission, I immediately resigned as Senior Special Agent in the ISA, I cited the facts that my personal life was affecting my work and could possibly endanger the lives of other agents. I can't let my own incompetence fail me or others again. When I resigned I severed all relations with the ISA, including Skye. She was promoted to a Senior agent and Jack - another promising agent - was the Junior. And I actually did not have any tax evasion cases because I was a former member of the ISA and we are all tax exempted whether you are still in the ISA or not."

"Then why did you help me?" Judy interrupted again, but Nick didn't mind.

"Because I thought that if a bunny cop tried to corner me with tax evasion, it must be because of either she really needed my help or she was actually that sly. Anyways, you made me miss my old life as an ISA agent so I decided to accept that applicant form that you gave me."

"So after my resignation, I paired up with Finnick, and started small time hustles, oh and by the way, that Junior Ranger Scouts thing was actually true. The only cover I had was 200 bucks a day 365 days a year since I was 12. Which would make sense because of the foxes' stereotypes and prejudices that exist all around Zootopia."

"Then why did they let you join the ISA?" Judy threw another question.

"Because at the ISA anyone can be anything." Nick grinned, using Lionheart's words to break the ice.

"Har har slick, seriously though, why?" Judy tried to play along.

"Jack was recruited because of his size, speed, and quick reflexes. Skye was recruited because of her camouflage due to her white fur, computer skills and intellect. I was recruited because of the same thing with Skye with additional aspects."

"So?" Judy asked, confused by his words.

"In short, the Internal Security Agency recruits' mammals because of their traits and skills. Not because of their stereotypes. Foxes are intelligent by nature and rabbits are fast, then again, by nature, so every team specializes in something. Jack and Skye are the first mixed species all-purpose team in the ISA."

"Okay Fluff, time to sleep, we still need to meet the deadline by morning."

"Good Night Nick." Judy said, yawning in the process.

"I love you Judy." Nick said while Judy froze, not expecting the words that came out of Nick's muzzle.

"I love you too Nick, sweet dreams." Judy replied.

 **The Next Day…**

"Wake up Nick!" Judy yelled beside his ears, deafening him foe a good few seconds.

"What is it Carrots? I wanna sleep." Nick said like a little toddler that did not want to go to school.

"It's the deadline today. Remember? By the way, Skye has been waiting for you." Nick glanced at Judy, who headed straight to the door. _'What did I get myself into?'_ Nick thought as he rushed to the briefing room, with Chief Bogo, Skye, Jack, and Judy sitting with the rest of the officers.

"Okay everyone pay attention; our intel shows that Max Michaels will exchange Five billion dollars for a crate of antidotes. He explained over the radio that the exchange will go like this. We drop it by the alley next to Jerry Jumbeaux Jr.'s, Ice Cream Parlor and we get the crates at Mole Harbor, well that is not going to happen as the treasury is on lockdown and we do not have the code for the vault if we ever manage to get inside their facility." Nick announced, creating murmurs in the group.

"However, I want to bluff them into thinking that we have the ransom money and hereby exchanging the crate at the Harbor before they realize that it is a dupe. So I want radio tapping teams to report to the command center and search the airwaves for their frequency. I want Hopps, Savage, and all fast small to medium sized mammals to report at Hangar One and Chief Bogo and all large class mammals to Hangar Two. Chief Bogo, Winter, Savage, Hopps, remain here, all other mammals, gear up and report to your Hangars in fifteen minutes." After this, all mammals left to gear up and left five mammals in the room.

"Okay Chief Bogo, your heavy forces will block the entrances and exits of Mole Harbor, just be ready to respond to anything that might happen." Bogo then nodded and left the room.

"Hopps, your forces will encircle the alley at the ice cream shop, make sur no one comes out." And Judy left to muster her team.

"Savage, I want you to run operations here at the base, prep all of the drones and be ready to respond to any situation in less than ten minutes." Jack left the room and heads towards the command center.

"Winter, I want you to encircle the drop site at the Harbor, inform me immediately of any suspicious mammals in the area." Skye gave him a confused look. "What, is it your first time taking orders from me?" Nick questioned her.

"No Nick, it's just that, it's been so long since I saw you like this." Skye stammered.

"Well it will probably be the last time you will see me like this. Now go!" Nick bellowed, a highly unnatural behavior for the fox that everyone knew that was a smooth talker and a simple pawpsicle hustler.

Once at the Hangar, everyone was waiting for the instruction that came from Nick. After five minutes of relaying orders, they mounted up on the APC's and each team drove to their respective locations.

Once on site, they set up sniper cover, assault teams created barricades and the APC's blocked every exit they might try to use, and a small covered supply truck was wheeled into the alley in the hopes of fooling them.

Wolford approached the alley after the truck was parked there. He was approaching them unarmed when he was shot in the arm, cursing in pain. And was approached by a badger.

"Is the money in there?" The badger asked him to which Wolford nodded, he was held at gunpoint when the badger warned him. "I will shoot you if it's not there." When the badger checked the truck, Wolford saw and opening and wrestled the pistol off of his paws and shot at both of his legs.

"Who else are waiting here you prick!" Wolford kicked him in the crotch and after a long scream of pain the badger replied.

"It's me! It's only me! Please! Don't shoot!" he begged for his life. To which Wolford replied,

"Don't worry, we will only rough you up." Wolford hits him with the grip of the pistol knocking him out instantly.

"Hopps, we got the suspect." Wolford radioed Judy.

"Savage, this is Hopps, we got the suspect, how is Mole Harbor?"

Meanwhile at Mole Harbor…

"I want Sniper cover here, here, and here, Chief Bogo, you block exits A and B. Winter, I want you to be ready to reinforce once things go south. My group will encircle the whole harbor; anyone must be able to reach any point in the harbor in less than two minutes." Nick ordered, apparently getting back to his Senior Special Agent years where he is used to order people around.

"Okay so to clarify things, we are all spread out into a thin force so that they could not escape?" Bogo asked.

"Savage, this is Piberius. I want an Avenger in the area in 5 minutes." Nick radioed to Jack in the command center.

"Copy that Piberius, Avenger callsign is Reaper 2-6." Jack replied, and with reinforcements on the way, the mission was set in motion, the whole Harbor was swept from the exits to the center and with no enemy in sight, they advanced with caution. Just as a crane in the opposite side of the harbor was cleared, a firefight ensued at the harbor, with a crane getting a crate and tries to drop it off the harbor.

"Fuck! Winter sabotage the crane! Savage, where is that damn air support!? We're dying here!" Nick yelled into the radio, once again finding himself in a dire situation with his men and his life, after a few minutes, he makes up his mind and directs Bogo to reinforce his men. "Chief, we need you to leave your post and reinforce our team, we are being slaughtered out here!"

"They could escape Wilde!" Chief Bogo argued, trying to reason out that they could slip right through the madness.

"Piberius, this is savage, Reaper 2-6 is ready for servicing for 15 mikes." Jack informed Nick about the much needed air support.

"Target all tangos' at our north! Watch out for that…" Nick was cut off as radio interference jammed their airwaves. "FUCK!"

"Mis..le o… .he ..il" Nick heard Jack say, to a casual officer, this is just another garbled transmission. But to Nick, who is a field hardened elite agent, recognizes this as 'Missile off the rail.' A common warning used by air support pilots to warn the ground forces that their strike was inbound.

The missile from the avenger was a heavy AGM-158 JASSM and took out the cement flooring of the pier, the heavy concrete was not strong enough to resist a 1,000-pound missile that headed straight towards it.

"No, No NO NOO!" Nick yelled as the shockwave from the impact blew the crane carrying the crate off balance, toppling over the side of the harbor and plunging into the harbor.

"I want divers on the scene…"

"Nick! Stop!" Nick was interrupted by Skye, who went to Nick to inform him about the crate.

"Want do you want Winter?" Nick bared his teeth at her, enraged being interrupted during his time of agitation and confusion.

"The crate, it is not the antidote!" she explained, getting a small vial that supposedly broke free from the crate before toppling over and reading the contents.

'Midni um Holi ias' was scribbled at the vial, although this one was broken, a few vials were floating in the surface all of which are intact, and contained a green liquid instead of the violet liquid that was the common color of the original Night Howlers.

"Get those bottles and put them in a sealed container." Nick told Skye, only for her to object.

"We don't have any equipment to process these vials." Skye replied to Nick, "The CDC was overrun and Cliffside was raided, how on earth are you going to make a cure for this?"

"We go to Shady Place." Nick muttered.

"Shady Place? Our intel puts them at the Rainforest District!" Skye argued.

"Are you questioning my orders JUNIOR Special Agent Skye?" Nick snarled.

"You don't have jurisdiction over me Nick." Skye brushed him off when a familiar silhouette.

"Actually he does, Special Agent Winter, he was your former superior, a lieutenant in the ZPD and he is the overall in-charge for operations. He reports to me and me only. Everyone that is here right now is under my command, and everyone under my command is in Lieutenant Wilde's command, are we clear?" Chief Bogo said with power behind his voice.

"But sir…"

"Are you disobeying a direct order from a four-star police chief?" Bogo bellowed, silencing the vixen.

"No sir." Skye meekly replied.

"Do we have any more problems?" asked Bogo.

"No, Sir!" Nick and Skye responded in unison.

* * *

 **Post A/N: As you have noticed, it took me a long time to write another chapter due to my studies, expect weekend updates starting today because I have a target grade to hit.**

 **Until next time!**

 **\- Nicholas Phillips**


	9. Shady Place Predicaments

**Chapter Nine – Shady Place Predicaments**

"But sir…"

"Are you disobeying a direct order from a four-star police chief?" Bogo bellowed, silencing the vixen.

"No sir." Skye meekly replied.

"Do we have any more problems?" asked Bogo.

"No, Sir!" Nick and Skye responded in unison.

Now that the argument was set aside, the whole team cleaned up the mess and all evidence were placed in small Ziploc bags that serves as an evidence bag, as all other bags were left at the ZPD precinct one during the outbreak.

After hours of scraping every evidence they can find, from pieces of shattered glass, all the way to a small green liquid that was still inside on of the vials that were still intact, the best course of action was to notify Dr. Phillips in their underground lab. Which is, based on outdated archives at the ISA, existed in Shady Place, and that is a place that is not well mapped due to the fact that it's a, well a shady place.

"Alright I want a full report on ammunition and gas supplies." Nick ordered, trying his best to stretch his resources to finish all of the mission objectives as one.

"Sir, we have enough fuel to reach Shady Place but we need to resupply to return to base." Officer Jeff Smiler reported back, only to meet a long silence from Nick.

"I want everyone to load up in the APC's I want the resupply truck to go back to the fortress and get the fuel from the pipeline there, no escorts, the way is cleared. I want to know how much these bastards can see." Nick announced, earning murmurs from the group. "Do we have a problem?" Nick asked to clear any confusions.

"No Sir!" All officers replied in unison, immediately loading up in the vehicles with a detachment of five heavily armed officers riding in the supply truck with Officer Smiler in command to give it at least a small chance to survive when it comes under attack by the enemy.

"Alright, we rendezvous at the following coordinates; 11.2543° N, 124.9617° E. be there at 1600 hours, keep a low profile." These were the last orders of Nick as the truck left the harbor and left for the resupply.

"What do we do now Wilde?" Chief Bogo asked.

"We go to Shady place. Mount Up!" Nick ordered, and the convoy left for the supposed secret laboratory of the ISA.

"Where is this Hidden Lab by the ISA Nick? There was no mention of it in our files" Skye asked the Tod which was focused at the GPS and their current location.

"It is right about in the center of Shady Place." Nick said unsurprised, the ride has been going well and was making good progress in terms of distance to the laboratory. The distance from Mole Harbor to Shady Place was quite a distance at about 76 miles from point to point. The convoy was expecting zero to no resistance as the route they chose was far from any known enemy held regions, or at least that is what they thought.

Just when they approached the outskirts of Shady Place, a loud metal clanking sound was heard from one of the APC's and the armored column immediately grinded to a halt at 7th avenue and with it was the shutdown of the GPS that contained the coordinates to the laboratory.

"What the hell is going on?" Bogo bellowed, ranting about the convoy that failed halfway to Shady Place. "I want a damage report in five minutes! Or I will skin each one of you alive!" Bogo continued his rage. "The sooner I get off of this damned place, the better! I don't want to be a sitting duck in the middle of nowhere!" After this rant Bogo went to his vehicle and sat down.

After a myriad of delays in finding out the problem, Officer George McDonough reported to the steaming police chief, citing a certain metal that penetrated the casing and pierced deep in the engine inside the hull. To make up for lost time, Nick and Judy volunteered to get an old map containing the location of the supposed lab. Although Judy had some doubts, she pushed them aside and trusted Nick, knowing that he knows better than the rest of them and that he is their only hope of winning the city back.

"So fluff. How do you know if we are right in top of the coordinates?" Nick asked Judy, only for her to shove Nick to the left.

"Do you even know where we are?" Judy asked, only to receive a dreaded response.

"Is that building this? Or this?" Nick said pointing to his map. "Hey, don't blame me! This map is 8 years old!"

"Nick you better not be saying that we are lost." Judy stared at Nick, dead serious with her state.

"Uh... fluff, I think we are lost." Nick reluctantly admitted.

"WHAT! Can't you use your sniffing skills or something?" Judy tried to give Nick an idea of what to do, only to be met by a confused look from Nick's face.

"I am a Fox Carrots, not a wolf." Nick said, while moving around trying to get a decent marker for their location.

"Come on Nick, we still need to find that lab!" Judy said as she led the way.

* * *

 ** _Meanwhile, at the supply truck..._**

Officer Jeff Smiler is in charge of the resupply run from Mole Harbor to 1 Cypress Grove Lane, the mission of his team is to get the barrels of diesel fuel stacked at the flammable storage area of Nick's house in order for the ill-fated convoy at Shady Place to be able to return to base.

During the trip Officer Smiler receives a transmission from Skye that read: 'BRADLEY ENGINE BROKE DOWN. NEED A NEW ENGINE. BRING C4 IF YOU CAN'T' by the time the message was sent, Officer Smiler told the driver to gun the pedal in order to assist the stranded convoy.

"Alright team. Listen Up! Convoy broke down and needs a spare engine, we need to haul ass and get that engine there. Aside from that, they also need fuel. So we need to decide. Either to bring the engine with barely any fuel, or bring C4 and blow up an APC. I don't want a court martial so I need everyone's agreement." Jeff informed the group getting a few murmurs from the officers.

"So do we get that engine? Or blow that APC, I need an answer." After a few minutes, the officers replied.

"We bring the fuel and the engine, there is an armored trailer that we can hitch to the back of this truck, that is where we will put the engine, for the fuel, we need a metal casing to put it in and we put the fuel in the truck." All other officers agreed.

"Okay, so we go back to the convoy in a truck and a trailer. Perfect." Jeff approved as the fortress came in sight of the truck.

Once they arrived, they headed straight to the shelter and found it to be locked, knowing that an attempt to force it open will cost them their lives, they sent a transmission to Skye to obtain the codes from Nick.

'SHELTER IS LOCKED. NEED CODE' was what they transmitted, a few minutes later they got a reply that read; 'WILDE AND HOPPS ARE MIA. FORCE OPEN THE SHELTER.' When receiving this, Smiler was afraid of what to do next, either to force it open or to wait for Nick to be found, obviously the latter was not an option and the whole team opts to pry it open instead. Smiler opened the security box and found two wires to cut, either the blue or the red.

"Which one?" Smiler asked another officer beside him.

"Go for the red boss." Officer Francis Gleicowitz suggested.

"Okay, here goes nothing." He said as he snapped the wire, his sweat sparkling in the midday heat.

A few seconds later the door opened by itself, revealing more than 2 tons of diesel fuel, to maximize the time, they spilt into groups with one group assigned to load the fuel and the other group was to go inside the machinery storage area where a Bradley Engine was seen lying on the floor.

After 3 hours of grunts, hauling and a broken paw (due to an officer putting his best paw forward when he set down a barrel of fuel) they finally managed to hook up an armored trailer with the engine inside and started to move towards Shady Place.

* * *

"How can it get much worse than this?" Nick asked Judy out of the blue.

"It's much worse if we can't even get to our convoy Nick, we don't have a tracker and you only got to hack one satellite and you need at least three to get a position." Judy told him and continued searching the place.

As they continued searching, a small sized figure appeared and pulled a gun on the duo.

"Who is it!?" He yelled in a low gruff voice.

"Put the gun down!" He yelled as he approached the mammal and the figure becoming a familiar silhouette of a person that he knows.

"Is that you Finnick?" Nick asked.

"Nick? The hell are you doing here? I thought you turned into one of those fuckers!" He said.

"Whoa Fin, take it easy. Want to go with us?" Nick offered.

"Sure. The hell you goin' anyway?" Finnick asked.

"We need to go back to our convoy that is somewhere at 10th avenue." Judy said to Finnick with the best convincing look she pulled, which also resulted in Nick getting his phone and taking another for blackmail. "Nick! Give me that phone!" She demurred, not wanting to be blackmailed by Nick the second time around.

"Come on Carrots, I'm setting it as a wallpaper!" Nick chuckled as he lifted his phone out of the reach of Judy.

"Fine, but if you even think of using that against me Nicholas Wilde, I will personally guarantee a kick to your crotch!" Judy threatened Nick, which seemed to work as the Tod simply changed his wallpaper and let Judy see his phone.

"Okay Finnick, lead the way!" Nick announced, visibly shaken by the rabbit's threat.

"Oh hell no, I don't walk, I ride." he said as he climbed to his Lobo van. "Hop in."

"Thanks Fin, you know how I get lost at Shady Place." Nick said sympathetically.

"You always get lost at Shady Place Nick." Finnick rebutted Nick.

* * *

"Hey Smiler. What do you call a three humped camel?" Gleicowitz asked Smiler.

"I don't know, what is it?" Smiler asked, oblivious to the answer.

"Pregnant!" Gleicowitz replied, resulting in a large laughter inside the truck.

"Hey Francis, what do you call a person hiding on a building with a mirror on his head?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know. What?"

"Get down!" Jeff yelled at the top of his lungs as a truck blocked their rear and small arms fire started to envelop around the partially unarmored truck.

"Drive to that alley over there!" Francis directed Jeff to restrict the shooters angle and vision of the truck and to increase their chances of survival.

"Gleicowitz, cover our rear! Allen Skips, check if the cargo is still intact. Everyone else, find cover and stay there!" Jeff Smiler ordered as he went to the front of the truck.

"This is Officer Jeff Smiler from the supply run, we are being ambushed, we need immediate air support!" Jeff barked into the radio

"This is Savage, we read you Officer Smiler, we have an AC-130J inbound to your position call sign 'Spooky' ETA 8 minutes." Jack replied over the radio.

"Copy that HQ." Jeff said as he put the radio back to its holder. "Hold on boys! 8 minutes before we get support!" Jeff yelled as his voice could barely be heard over the fierce gunfire that erupted between the two sides. 'Zootopia is worth dying for.' He thought as he ceaselessly led his team out of the trap and managed to draw the gunfire away from the truck by diving into a nearby ditch.

"Skips! Are the cargoes okay?" Smiler asked to which Skips replied.

"Affirmative Sir!" He replied.

"Get the GPS and map a way out of here!" Smiler ordered while during his standard issue USP .45 at the enemy taking cover in a ditch at the opposite side of the no man's land.

"Advance! Put the pressure on the enemy!" Smiler barked as the officers started to gain ground, inch by inch as the enemy morale seems to affect the accuracy of their shots.

Just as they approached the halfway line, a Russian surplus APC appeared and started hammering the ZPD officer's position and grinding their advance to a halt. After stopping the started to lose ground inch by inch as the pressure was on them. Outnumbered, outflanked and outgunned, they were losing the battle, moments later, the radio in the truck crackles to life.

"Supply this is Pilot Roland Skies on Spooky, we are available for service for 15 mikes." Skies radioed them.

"Spooky, target AAAAAHHHHHHH! WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!" Smiler said as he threw the radio away when the radio emitted an ear bleeding audio frequency they severed their comms. "How the hell are they gonna help us now?" Smiler raged while feeling helpless, helpless in front of the enemy when suddenly, an idea popped to his head.

"Everyone! Activate the IR beacons on your vests so Spooky can distinguish us from the tangos!" And as soon everyone started activating them, Spooky fired a work round that destroyed the APC and obliterated the enemy with devastating effect.

"Everyone mount up! Use the barrage for cover!" Smiler ordered as they ran toward the truck and as soon as they were in, he gave the order. "Gun it Gleicowitz!" And as soon as they were cleared, they continued their way to the stranded convoy. "Spooky this is supply, maintain aerial surveillance until we arrived at the convoy, I'm not gonna let them get to us again."

Once they were in sight of the convoy, Spooky returned to base while Smiler's team repaired the engine of the disabled Bradley and refueled the rest of the convoy. And about the same time, Finnick's Lobo van reached the convoy, Nick and Judy immediately recharged their equipment, and Skye approached them.

"Are you okay you guys?" She asked, full of worry fear.

"We're okay Winter, has the GPS restarted?" Nick coldly replied.

"Yes. But the coordinates were lost." Skye answered.

"Use this map, get us to this place before another ambush happens and catches us red handed. Move!" Nick ordered as he handed out a piece of paper.

"Nick?" Judy started.

"Yes Judy?" Nick replied instead of being cold, he replied with care for the alpine.

"We need to talk about the way you talk to your ex, and we need to settle it. Now or else things will just get worse." Judy chastised him for his behavior toward the vixen.

'Could things be much worse' Nick thought as he put on his earpiece, IR beacon and his locator.

When he activated his earpiece, it released an ear piercing audio which deafened him for a good five minutes.

"Savage this is Wilde; do you copy?" He switched frequencies and radioed Savage.

"Savage here. Good to hear you Wilde." Savage replied.

"Get to the airwaves and decrypt the signal with the high frequency, locate where it is being transmitted." Nick ordered.

"Yes sir. HQ out." Savage said as he cut the line.

"Alright let's mount up!" The convoy started to move again and made for the hidden laboratory at the center of Shady Place.

After a few minutes, the map indicated that an alley contains the well-hidden entrance to the lab, as soon as they arrived, they scanned every irregularity in the wall, from graffiti's to missing bricks. After hours of searching, Officer Johannes Dossier accidentally dislodged a brick, causing a portion of the wall to open, and they were met with the cocking of guns.

"I am Agent Piberius of the ISA, authentication Whiskey November India Charlie Kilo let us in."

"Agent Piberius? I thought you retired!" An ISA agent greeted him.

"I did agent, I'm with the ZPD now, let us in. How is Dr. Nicholas Phillips doing?" Nick added.

"Oh yeah sure come on in! Dr. Phillips is in one of the offices, he has been waiting for you guys. The savage mammals are on the holding cell; they don't bite each other anyway." The agent replied.

As they went to the office of Dr. Phillips, Nick gathered up himself and went through the door.

"Dr. Phillips, we have a development."

* * *

 **Post A/N: My update frequency is now once a week because of classes, I hope you guys won't stop reading just because of this! And also, the story skyrocketed to 880 views and 300 visitors! I want to thank you all for reading and since I made a planner, I have plans for chapters all the way up to Chapter 19 so please rest assured that the story will go smoothly with the weekly updates, and if there happens to be break of half day classes, I will use that time for this story only.**

 **Also, I asked a friend of mine - former classmate - to draw a proper cover art for this story, his name is Gil Itsuki, he posts some of his art on Facebook so stay tuned!**

 **Until next time!**

 **\- Nicholas Phillips**


	10. Return to Base

**Chapter Ten** \- **Return to Base**

Days after Outbreak: 4

Days without incident: 0

Savage Mammal count: 799 952

Dead: 0

Survivors: 48

* * *

As they went to the office of Dr. Phillips, Nick gathered up himself and went through the door.

"Dr. Phillips, we have a development."

"What is it Officers?" Phillips said shakily

"We managed to secure a sample of the supposed Night Howler strain that is causing the outbreak."

"I'm sorry officers, but I can't help you." Phillips responded, "I simply do not have the instruments, equipment's and the workplace to do it. We need at least a World Mammal Health Organization or a Center for Disease Control facility to run our tests. And in addition to that, since the liquid can make you go savage, we also require a HazMat suit and a face mask that could save our pelts if an accident or reaction happens in our lab."

"Okay, but even with or without equipment's, can we trust you to keep these samples?" Nick questioned Phillips.

"Yeah, I can keep them but do not expect any progress unless we capture a facility with the correct equipment's, what we have here can only make a fraction of the require research, we are lacking even the most basic equipment's for genetic editing!" Phillips reminded them while letting out a nervous laughter.

"Yeah yeah, you don't do anything while it's with you. Got it." Judy said, and the duo turned tails and bid the doctor goodbye.

"Hey carrots, don't you think Phillips was a bit nervous in our conversation?" Nick Inquired.

"Yep, he was definitely acting suspicious in terms of him knowing the type of equipment to use while we are stuck with the question of 'Is really a Night Howler.' we need to do a background check on him once we RTB." Judy concurred while heading to the alley where the rest of their forces are located, as the laboratory was more of an obsolete nuclear fallout shelter.

"All right, everyone ready?" Nick asked the officers.

"Officers Euryl, Matt, Hatton, Jasmine, Dean, Keith. You will be leading the way in your Bradley APC, and since we are going to go out of support range again, I am requesting an Avenger from the base and we will move out as soon as it arrives, I don't want to move without air support of heavy ordinance." Bogo ordered while Finnick went to Nick.

"I can still drive my van right?" Finnick asked.

"Nope, you have to leave it, the ISA Agents will take care of it. Just park it at the alley and a camouflage will be painted over it. Sorry for the artwork in advance." Nick grinned, satisfied seeing the Fennec fox in shock.

"Hey L.T." Officer Dennis Holtzmann approached Nick. "Base says that the Avenger is near our location, call sign is Reaper 2-6"

"Do they only have one drone?" Nick asked, surprised by the repeated usage of the call sign.

"It's just a naming scheme sir, they only change it when the drone carrying that name gets shot down."

"Then be it." Nick said, after looking at his watch for a good few seconds, "Mount Up! Get ready to roll.'

"Okay guys I hope this one works." Officer Fuller said to no one in particular.

By the time the drone was approaching, the convoy started to head back to base with Reaper 2-6 maintaining aerial superiority in the surroundings, little did they know what was going to happen next.

A whistle of a high velocity rocket was heard and a terrifying explosion was seen as the vanguard APC blasted into smithereens with debris getting into every side of the street effectively blocking the convoy's path, killing all six officers riding inside a swift death as they was effectively erased as a threat.

Moments later, as the convoy started to find an alternate route, a second rocket struck the turret of an M1A2 Abrams tank, jamming the 120mm gun and disabling the main weapon system, although the tank's main gun is jammed, the tank can still move but at a limited speed, while the only offensive/defensive capabilities the tank retained were the smoke grenade launchers, the coaxial and the turret mounted .50 Cal HMG giving the crew a chance to fight back enemies.

Mere seconds later, another whistle was heard as a spectacular aerial explosion and a deafening sound resonated in the area, looking up, Judy saw that Avenger 2-6 was hit by the rocket, seeing the trail of the smoke, Gunnery Officer Gerard Vincent fired a five round burst from the 20mm Bushmaster Autocannon killing the enemy personnel occupying it.

"Fire a round on that same window!" Nick ordered his tank crew, as Judy moved the tank into range, Snarlov immediately pulled the trigger with his .50 Cal HMG hammering the enemy position, and at the same time Wolford and Fangmeyer loaded the main gun.

"Ready sir!" Wolford reported.

"Fire!"

And as soon as the shot went off, the whole building exploded as if it was scheduled for demolition, as it turns out, the building was most likely a supply depot judging from the explosion that occurred, as a round to a window cannot bring a whole building down.

"Great shot Wilde! You blocked our only way out!" Bogo sarcastically said.

"No, there is still one more way out." Nick said, pointing to an underground garage of a building.

Looking at a map, the building has access from the road that they are in, to the road that is on the other side of the building to make it accessible for its tenants.

"Are you kidding? That is suicide!" Officer Henry Lawrence remarked, "There could be an enemy force in there! And much worse, we could be falling for a trap!"

"Well let's show them that we are ready for whatever they will throw at us." Nick said as he gave the order to advance to the other side of the building.

"Better not kill yourself L.T." Officer Rachel Lynde said through her radio.

"I know I won't." Nick said in acknowledgement as his tank was the vanguard of the convoy, the convoy that went through a forsaken basement, the entrance has been silent and the infrared cameras on the vehicles were activated, as the convoy was moving through a dangerous area, thus visibility should be at the minimum to prevent drawing attention.

"Is the other exit still at the same floor?" Officer Norton Hasworth asked Chief Bogo.

"No. It's 2 floors up. The other street was elevated because it is a major arterial road." Chief Bogo said dismissively to the recruit.

"Savage this is Wilde, do you copy over?" Nick activated his radio, increasingly desperate by the second.

"What do you need Wilde?" A voice sounded over the crackling radio.

"We need a fast mover drone here in 10 minutes Savage!" Bogo yelled over the radio. "We are inside a building, the moment that I see sunlight, there better be drone waiting!" Bogo said, although the last part sounded more of a threat than an order.

As the convoy entered the building, it was immediately rattled by automatic fire from all directions. The vehicles in a disadvantage were the tanks as their huge 120 mm guns could not fire at the enemy as they are too big, meanwhile, the Bradley APC'S are at an advantage as their small 20 mm cannons made an easy time in shredding the enemy to pieces.

As the first floor was cleared, they set off for the second floor. The forces were covered in two as the plan was to use the entrance and exit ramps to surprise the enemy. Bogo was to take the left and Nick was to take the right ramp. Just as Nicks tank moved up the ramp, a huge crack was noticed and the tank stopped.

"Sir we need to go back! This building is not strong enough!" Johannes Dossier alerted Nick, but by the time this was heard, the tank that Nick was inside fell through 4 floors of the underground parking disabling the tank and forcing them to bail out and proceed on foot.

"Everyone okay?" Nick asked the team as he clears his way through the rubble surrounding the tank.

"Yes sir. A few scrapes and bruises ain't stopping us." Fangmeyer said optimistically as the rest of the crew gathered outside the disabled tank.

"Okay so here is the..." Nick started as a round went through the air and hits a concrete wall while everyone took cover behind the parked cars.

"We have to flank them! Judy, take Wolford and Snarlov and circle on the left. Use the cars for cover!" Nick ordered as the squad successfully executed their outflanking maneuver eliminating the enemy with little ammunition and using only the pistols they were required to carry.

"Get any guns and ammo you can find. We need to borrow these assholes' weapons." Snarlov said as he picked up a deadly RPK and strapped a deadly RPG - 7 on his back with spare rockets stuffed into his vest.

"We need to rendezvous on the surface with the team and call for air support. We only have two qualified pilots so I need the best aircraft we can use. We will use this stairwell, get ready we could be face to face with an army and we will be firing in point blank range with the enemy." Nick sad as they approached the starwell and readied to breach.

"Breach in Three. Two. One. Breach." They rushed Inside securing the area and proceeded on foot to the next flight of stairs. 'This is gonna be long day' Nick thought to himself.

Meanwhile at Chief Bogo's position...

"Winter, take Johnson, Skips, Hale and Smiler to the other APC and secure the stranded squad downstairs while we clear this floor. We'll meet you topside when it's done." Bogo relayed the order to them and left off to secure the remaining floor with his 2 tanks and one APC and with them was the tank that could only fire it's machine guns, putting them at a severe disadvantage when going up against armored targets.

"Officer Gleicowitz, advance." Bogo muttered to Francis as he inched towards the exit with almost zero resistance.

As soon as they went topside, all they have to do is wait for them to emerge from the forsaken basement.

"Okay, once we go to the second floor, we go to the other side of the parking area and use the other staircase to avoid detection, got it?" Nick was followed by nods as the group went to the other side quickly when they encountered an APC.

"Nick! It's us! Come on!" Skye shouted at them to catch their attention.

The ride up was rather silent as the remaining enemy forces retreated the building was deserted back to its old forsaken state and the call for extra air support came minutes before Nick went back up and continued to return to base and with a death toll of over six officers, this was the worst mission that occurred in the outbreak.

For now.

* * *

 **A/N: First of all, I sincerely apologize for the short chapter. I know that some of you were expecting something else after a week of no updates my birthday was on July 27 so I was a bit distracted. Again, I apologize. Second is that I am running out of encouragement for the story, so as a result, I am putting this on a 2 week hiatus to double check and overhaul the story as the chapters I planned do not seem to work out with the rest of the story. Meanwhile I am currently writing a pilot for another kind of story and it will be more of the investigative kind as compared to action so yeah, I think that's all for now.**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **Nicholas Phillips**


	11. Black Hawk Down

**Chapter Eleven - Black Hawk Down**

Days after Outbreak: 5

Days without incident: 0

Savage Mammal count: 799 952 (estimated)

Dead: 6

Survivors: 42

* * *

Every time of the day, the base sends out choppers to reconnoiter an area before sending troops as a result of the events that transpired in the previous day, events that led to the deaths of six officers. Everyone needed to do their part; ISA agents train the officers to increase their effectiveness in combat while the technical officers are sifting through terabytes of data to search for possible leads on the location of Max Michaels and to learn how he coordinates the attacks and where he got his resources to carry them out.

The first area that was to be reconnoitered was Rainforest District where the ISA had a lead on; a lead that was lost when their headquarters were overrun by the quick succession of events that had happened as a week before, everything was still normal.

Although Nick wanted to reconnoiter and secure Zootopia Joint Armed Forces Base Alpha at the northeastern part of Zootopia; Chief Bogo overruled his decision and instead focused on getting this situation under control and therefore thinks that his resources are sufficient enough to secure the city. But Nick still insisted to secure Alpha as it has everything they need for an indefinite stay and also, the base had a contingency plan for surprise attacks such as this and the stocks there were enough to last them a year or two but unfortunately, due to the nature of the attack they too were overrun by the savage mammals that easily scaled their deactivated electric fences and their walls barely giving them enough time to execute their contingency plan.

"Wilde, you and Winter will be sent out on patrol to the Rainforest District and reconnoiter the area, you will be using the UH-60 Black Hawks and since we only have eight ex-military personnel, there will only be one aircraft on this one, you will be heavily armed to the teeth and as much as possible try to keep a low profile, I don't want another set of caskets for this mission. But, since you are the first patrol I will send out, I will cut you some slack if someone dies. Got it?" Bogo said in a straightforward no bullshit manner with his glare focused on the two mammals in front of him. "Are we clear?"

"Yes sir!" Nick and Skye replied in unison.

"You will leave at 0900 hours. You have two hours to gear up. Dismissed." Bogo said as Nick and Skye saluted and left the office.

"Nick, do you have sometime? I want to smoothen things between us." Skye calmly asked Nick.

"There is no 'us' Skye. There is you and me, and yes I want to smoothen up things." Nick said stoically.

"Will breakfast be okay?" Skye asked Nick, hopeful of a good answer.

"Yeah, sure why not." Nick said as they parted ways each of them going to their respective rooms.

Once he opened a door, a rabbit was waiting for him as the rabbit went up to Nick and kissed him in the muzzle. "What were you and Skye talking about?" Judy asked, this time her voice was that of a curious one.

"We are the first patrol to Rainforest District and I am paired up with Skye. She wants to smooth things over so that we could have a smooth relationship from now on." Nick said with amethyst eyes staring at him. "By relationship, I mean friends Carrots, not a love life kind of a relationship."

"I know; I was just testing you Nick." Judy chuckled as she cracked a grin on her face from seeing Nick under pressure.

"Carrots, you will be the death of me."

"At least you will die a good death." Judy quipped back as she left the room and left Nick all by himself.

He noticed that Judy left her Carrot pen on his bedside table, he picked it up and started a recording.

"Hey Carrots," he started "I know that you love me, you really do but, I just want you to know that no matter how far I am, and no matter what happens, you must know that I will always love you, you changed this fox's life and for that, I am grateful for the second chance you gave me. Our patrol goes deep behind enemy lines, our route is uncharted and we have no idea of the strength of the enemy in this area, just wait for me, whatever happens I will always find my way back to you until my last breath. See you carrots." He released the record button to end the recording and proceeded to the armory which was a few meters down the hall and as he dons his body armor, he looked at the guns hung on the wall and decides to use his M4A1 SOPMOD, he straps an M21 Suppressed Sniper Rifle on his back and got his gun of choice, a USP .45 Extended Magazine and stuffs all the magazines, rations, water, IV drips and a med kit in his bag, totaling to over 36 mags for his M4, 23 for the M21 sniper rifle and 48 for his pistol and with the bag weighing a hefty 13 pounds, he strapped more magazines on his vest and a few grenades, flashbangs and smoke grenades. This fox is ready to fight a war.

As he left the armory, he caught a glimpse of Skye that was using similar armor except that she was using the MP4 Submachine gun, a silenced M2 Berretta and a grenade launcher strapped to her back, and Nick knows that she is deadly and versatile with her current load out. As he continued towards the tarmac, he passed by the control room and sees Judy barking orders to the other officers and keeping the base operational while he sees Jack with a headphone and pushing buttons and turning knobs trying to find the frequency that the enemy uses. He went outside the door at the end of the hall and squinted his eyes as he was hit by the blinding sun that barraged his eyes with pain as he quickly made his way to the chopper and placed his gear on his seat.

Right after talking with a few recruits he made his way to the mess hall and looks at his watch; 0815 hours, he sighed and continued his way to the mess hall where Skye was waiting for him. They lined and got the same food, same drinks and same straw color, as they say down on the table, there was a palpable tension that existed between them, a tension that they never felt since they first sat down on the same table at college. A table and setting that was familiar as their old college days.

"So," Nick started "What was it that you wanted to talk about?" Nick said as he took a bite of his meal.

"I wanted to ask if there are still things between us that might hamper our effectivity." Skye answered.

"Nope, there is nothing that could hinder our success on this mission." Nick dismissively said.

"Really? Because for a moment there, I thought you never loved me." Skye said, with sadness evident in her voice.

"I loved you Skye. Just once, but not anymore. YOU need to get this out of your head, why are you the one to talk when it is you that could possibly be the hindrance that could deny us victory in our mission?" Nick finished his meal and stared at her with dead silence.

Without warning, Skye jumped and kissed Nick in a passionate kiss, one that he never felt since he left the ISA.

And worse of all, frozen at the mess hall entrance, was Judy standing with shock and begins to tear as she stormed out of the hall and presumably left for her quarters.

"What the hell Skye!? Didn't you hear a single thing from what I said just now?" Nick bared his teeth at her, immediately putting her back into her place.

"I'm sorry... I thought a kiss would change your mind." Skye sincerely apologized as Nick yelled at her.

"Great, now you made the whole situation better! Thanks Skye!" Nick sarcastically yelled and ran after Judy who locked herself up in her room and threatening anyone that tries to get near, despite those threats, Nick went to the door and talked to her through an air vent.

"Judy? Are you there?" Nick asked only to be answered by silence.

"Judy please, listen to me just this once." Nick tried again.

"I know you are listening so yeah. I will get your carrot pen which you left at my room. I don't have all day for this. I have a mission to go to." Nick said then he ran to his room, grabbed the pen and quickly ran back to Judy's room. "Your carrot pen will be here. Goodbye Judy." Nick said as he checked to watch; 0845 hours, he ran to the briefing room just when Judy was about to open the door, when she did, all she saw was a carrot pen with an orange light on that tells her that there is a new recording. She took it and brought it inside her room as she silently wept. 'What have I done?'

Nick arrived in time to get his team all fixed up, his team mates were Skye, Wolford, Snarlov, Fuller, Hasworth and McKenzie. They were expectantly waiting for him at the briefing room, and once Nick went in, they became silent as the Tod spoke. "Our aim is to go to the coordinates that were salvaged in an ISA file that suggests the hiding spot of Max Michaels, this is a very dangerous mission as we do not know the strength of the enemy and 18 minutes into the flight, we will be behind enemy lines, no backup, no air support. Only us against them. So basically, we go there, land, search the site, assess their defenses and get out before they notice us. Any questions?" The question was met with silence. "Good, load up! We meet at the tarmac; I'll pass by the armory first." Nick said, wrapping up the briefing quickly.

Once outside he briskly made his way towards the armory and got his helmet with a built in FFIHUD, a parting remembrance from his ISA years when he resigned. After looking at it for a few seconds, he reluctantly put it on and heads towards the tarmac.

On the tarmac, the rest of the team was waiting for Nick and as soon as they were complete they did their final checks and lifted off, not knowing if this was the last time they would see the base again. The flight going to the coordinates were silent as the team was confident that no one is stupid enough to fire at them in their territory.

"Nick I..."

"Shut it Skye. I don't want to hear it." Nick quickly said, silencing the vixen as she kept her ears and tail down.

Once they passed the 18-minute mark, the lights in the chopper were switched to red as a sign that they were entering enemy territory which prompted the team to ready their gear and ready their parachutes as they continued to fly through the border.

Their silence was interrupted when an alarm blared in the cockpit. "We have a missile lock! Hang on!" Pilot Norton Hayworth alerted the others as he released flares and executed evasive maneuvers that made him turned the plane wildly, when he released the flares, the missile followed it and blew up, missing the helicopter merely meters away from the main fuselage. But because of the flares and the explosion that lit up the sky, more missiles were fired and one struck The tail rotor of the helicopter and it spun wildly out of control.

"Everyone jump off!" Hasworth yelled at them while doing his best to stabilize the helicopter enough for them to jump off with their parachutes. Once it was stable enough, the team jumped off, but Hasworth and Fuller can't jump off because their seatbelts were jammed while McKenzie had a metal bar stuck to his chest as he bled uncontrollably. "What the fuck are you waiting for!? Go!" Upon hearing this, the team parachutes off and were scattered all over the place, except for Nick and Skye who shared the parachute as Nick was too light to use it by himself, pulling the ripcord, they both glided through the air, luckily no one was shooting at them.

'No! no! no! no! no!' He thought as the feeling of Skye's ass against his member caused him to have an erection which made him sweat and pant uncontrollably.

"Are you okay Nick?" Skye asked as she tried to look at Nick, which made her feel the bump against her was which made her uncontrollably blush red either to embarrassment or to arousal as she continued to squirm and made Nick's plight even worse. "Oh, I see you still want some of 'that' right?" Skye grinned.

"Shut up Skye, and stop squirming or I swear something will happen to you once we reach the ground." Nick said threateningly but Skye brushed it off as she continued to squirm and even tried to put it against her sex to keep him occupied while they were taking an unnecessarily long amount of time before reaching the ground.

"Finally, I'm free!" Nick said as he hurriedly went up and distance himself some few meters from Skye. After a few minutes, they prepped themselves and got ready to secure the crash site and rendezvous with the others that were separated during the crash. After a good 13 minutes of walking, they arrived at the crash site and encountered the corpses of Hasworth, Fuller and McKenzie barely identifiable if it weren't for their tags.

"Come on, we need to find the others before we follow them." Nick said as he pulled Skye away from the wreckage and went into the dense vegetation.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, back at Bravo Base...**_

"Give me a report and a live feed on their situation." Bogo ordered them after catching word of their crash. "Done sir."

A satellite feed shows Nick and Skye parachuting away from the helicopter minutes before their destruction, and a rather unprofessional Skye squirming on front of Nicks crotch. Judy was about to burst when she saw that once they landed, Nick berated her and proceeded on foot.

"I want every force available on standby, I also want B-2 Spirits on standby for a carpet bomb run. Ready the Apaches and Black Hawks. Everyone must be on red alert!" Nick bellowed as he sat down and massaged his temples. "As for you." Nick looked down on Judy as she sat down in front of his desk.

"About your outburst and verbal threats earlier." Nick began and with Judy swallowing hard. "I don't care." Bogo said. "You will be here on high alert, I need you to run our surveillance division and inform me of anything you see, you report to me and me only. Got it?" Bogo said to which Judy frantically nodded. "You will also be with Agent Savage as he is the in-charge for radio operations. Any problems?"

"No sir!" Judy said as she left the office.

On the hallway, Judy decided that she will be visiting her new post as the in-charge of surveillance operations. When she went into the door, Jack Savage accidentally bumped into her, causing him to drop the folders he was carrying.

"Here you go." Judy said as she got the folder and Jacks hand touched here as they looked at each other's eyes, an awkward moment existed for a good few seconds before they started to talk again.

"I'm sorry about that Hopps." Jack apologized to her.

"I'm supposed to be the one apologizing Savage." Judy said while still looking at his striped ears.

"I should probably go now." Jack said as he hurried through the door and ran down the hallway.

* * *

"Wolford buddy are you okay?" He asked as he pulled Wolford down from the foliage of a tree.

"Never been better Wilde, where are the others?" Wolford asked.

"Everyone else but Snarlov is dead, and that might change once we see him." Nick replied.

"Come on Wolford, Snarlov isn't more than a mile away!" Skye jokingly said as Wolford groggily moved one step at a time.

A few minutes later engines were heard and everyone dropped to the ground, an armed 4-ton army truck passed by and at the back of the truck was a handcuffed and beaten Snarlov, dozing off while the truck sped to who knows where.

"Follow me, this road winds up a few hundred meters and there is a sharp U-turn, we need to set up an ambush point there." Skye pointed to an elevated road at the opposite direction.

"Okay, Skye take the left, Wolford take the right, I will stay hidden at the foliage and kill the driver." Nick said as everyone took their positions. Readying the sniper rifle, the ambush was set. All they need to do was to wait for the truck.

Minutes later, a revving engine was heard when a silhouette of the truck appeared Nick swiftly shot the front riders, making it curve to the side and hitting a sign. Once it stopped, four mammals went out and were eliminated by Wolford and Skye while Nick hopped inside and freed Snarlov.

"No shit Snarlov, you okay?" Nick asked as Snarlov stood up, shaken awake by the crash.

"Da, nothing that a vodka can't fix." Snarlov said in his deep Russian accent before revering to his regular English accent. "Where are the others?"

"It's only us Snarlov, everyone else is dead." Nick sadly replied.

"We passed a village here somewhere. Just follow this road, from what I remember we did not ran any turns." Snarlov said as they began to backtrack their way through the jungle.

* * *

"I need everything in that location! Jam Cams, satellites, video feeds. Anything! We to keep an eye on them at all times!" Judy barked as the surveillance division scampered their way through terabytes of data and Information that could lead to the present location of Nick and the rest of his team.

"We got 'em ma'am, they are at Vine Country. Backtracking the road to a village a few hundred meters from their current position." Officer Trumpet reported to Judy.

"Get me the Chief!" She said as she continued to coordinate the division.

"What is it Hopps?" Bogo snorted as he approached the room.

"Scramble a rescue team to that village now!" Judy said.

"You heard her! Move! Move! Move!" Bogo ordered them as they went out and as soon as 5 minutes from the time the order was given 2 Apaches and a Black Hawk were already in the air en route to the village that Nick was heading into.

* * *

"Okay, everyone got it?" Skye asked the group.

"Can you explain the middle part again?" Nick asked

"Damn it, just find a radio!" Skye said, giving up on explaining things.

"Whatever Skye, let's move!" Nick said and the squad began searching the deserted village in hopes of finding a radio.

In the third house, which was the most modern of them all, a working radio set was found and Nick began to radio for evac.

"Baseplate Bravo, this is Wilde requesting immediate evac over." Nick said, only to be replied by static.

"Baseplate Bravo, this is Wilde requesting immediate evac over." Nick repeated, only to be replied by static.

"Wilde, this is Baseplate Bravo we read you, we have 2 Apaches and a Black Hawk are route to your position eta 5 minutes." Jack replied over the radio, giving a sense of relief to the stranded team.

While waiting it out, the team searched the area for any important Intel on the hideout and activities of the enemy and not only did they find one, but all the maps containing the enemy positions all over the Rainforest District but not even a single map that pointed or pinned the Hideout. Meaning that the orders were relayed wirelessly and the frequency and the encryption keys were on the radio they were using, Nick scribbled them into his notepad and sat down while waiting for the extraction team to arrive.

At last minutes later, they heard engines and helicopter blades hovering ahead, they stepped into the helicopter and headed straight to base although the side was something that one could say is 'safe' the route used was the same route that they took, and with two gunships for their escort, the enemy has to be extremely daft in order for them to engage the aerial convoy and little did they know about how daft the enemy could be.

When they were four miles away from the allied lines, a missile lock blared over the cockpit as Nick and Skye huddled together and with Nick protecting her with his embrace. The explosion came when Pilot Leo Theodore sacrificed himself and flew into the path of the missile. A second alarm prompted Nick and Skye to stick to their position as Pilot Matthew Cage did the same thing as his wingman and saved the team. A missile lock was heard again and the helicopter was forced to deploy its flares and executing evasive maneuvers and flying below 200 feet from the ground to prevent missile lock.

One mile away from the allied lines, small arms fire broke the collective and the plane could not lift up, the pilot was doing his best to keep the plane off the ground when a wooden house was directly in the path of the helicopter, in a last witch effort to save it from crashing, the pilot used the helicopter's yaw pedals in a last ditch attempt to avoid the house, the tactic barely works and with less than a meter to spare, but nothing could have prepared it for the next obstacle; a raised patch of land. The pilot tries to use the Helicopters wheels to his advantage only for the front wheel to become clipped in something and turning the whole helicopter upside down and crash into a messy wreck of a stealth helicopter and inside with Nick holding Skye tight. Gas was leaking, the helicopter was about to blow and Nick is still unconscious from the crash, Skye however is still conscious and manages to free herself from the wreckage.

Could Nick wake up before everything is too late?

* * *

 **Post A/N: Now I know that I said that this story will be in a 2 week hiatus, but someone managed to convince me to make an extra long chapter just for you guys in reparation for the short chapter and as a gift because of my birthday last July 27. 'But that fucking cliffhanger sucks Nicholas!' Yes I know it sucks but it's just a strategy I am trying to adopt, I might update tomorrow or you will have to wait a whole week with a cliffhanger on this story! That is the fun in writing and reading anyways. And no, I am not making any new stories except for Untitled 2 from User55135 if he approves it.**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **\- Nicholas Phillips**


	12. Crossroads

**Chapter Twelve - Crossroads**

Days after Outbreak: 5

Days without incident: 0

Savage Mammal count: 799 952 (estimated)

Dead: 9

Survivors: 39

* * *

One mile away from the allied lines, small arms fire broke the collective and the helicopter could not lift up, the pilot was doing his best to keep the plane off the ground when a wooden house was directly in the path of the helicopter, in a last ditch effort to save it from crashing, the pilot used the helicopter's yaw pedals in a last ditch attempt to avoid the house, the tactic barely works and with less than a meter to spare, but nothing could have prepared it for the next obstacle; a raised patch of land. The pilot tries to use the Helicopters wheels to his advantage only for the front wheel to become clipped in something and turning the whole helicopter upside down and crash into a messy wreck of a stealth helicopter and with Nick holding Skye tight. Gas was leaking, the helicopter was about to blow and Nick is still unconscious from the crash, Skye however is still conscious and manages to free herself from the wreckage.

Just when all hope seems lost, Skye saw an opening in the wreckage and finds a pole to keep the pressure off of Nick's body, enough for him to slump out and for Skye to drag him out of the wreckage. Skye set Nick on the soil and sat beside him before falling unconscious, moments later she woke up with Nick, Snarlov and Wolford looking at her, much to her surprise, the two mammals that cheated death twice today are still living aside from a few broken bones and wounds, but nothing serious.

Just when Skye was about to ask, Nick suddenly hugged her and she immediately hugged him back, after a few moments Nick spoke.

"I thought I was gonna lose you. I could barely forgive myself for what happened to Charlie, but I could never forgive myself if I lost you Skye." Nick said between sobs, the fox finally broke as he never let go of the embrace.

"Okay Wilde, enough sappy sentiments for one day. How are we going to survive the night?" Wolford asked Nick, effectively putting his mind back on track.

"Did my bag survive the crash?" Nick hopefully asked, and when Snarlov gave him his bag, he asked. "How did you get this?"

"You were too busy hugging Skye during the crash that when I jumped out I decide to take your gear as it would be sad to lose such fine equipment. I even got your helmet. I'm sorry about the FFIHUD though, the crash was too much for it to handle" Snarlov explained as he gave the bag to Nick.

"Let's see here." Nick said, looking at the map. "There is an abandoned Highway Patrol Outpost at a crossroad not far from here. Might as well use that place to bunk in for the night." Nick said while looking at the Orange sky, a sign that meant that darkness was going to surround the place and increase their chances of falling into an ambush. "Let start moving before the sun slips below the horizon."

"Take your break Hopps, you earned it." Chief Bogo said as he was passing by.

"No sir! Nick is still out there! I have to do whatever I can to get him back!" Judy argued.

"That is an order Hopps! If you don't, I will personally drag you to your quarters and give you a forced break for tomorrow." Bogo said as he went out of the office with Judy in tow and personally made sure that she will not sneak out, he even placed a sentry outside Judy's door to prevent her from sneaking out of her quarters.

Once she was at her room, she changed her clothes to a much comfortable ZPD T-shirt but kept her pants, she was not in the mood for talking with someone, _'First, that fox tells me that he loves me then Second, he kisses her ex? What kind of mammal does that?'_ she thought as her mind did not let her sleep, she was pulled between helping Nick, or giving that vixen a piece of her mind, _'Why should I help him? He got this coming to him after what he did to me.'_ She thought again as she looked at her bedside table and saw that the orange light on her carrot pen still did not disappear. _'I'm going to regret this later.'_ she thought as she took the carrot pen and pressed play.

 _"Hey Carrots,"_ the recording started " _I know that you love me, you really do but, I just want you to know that no matter how far I am, and no matter what happens, you must know that I will always love you, you changed this fox's life and for that, I am grateful for the second chance you gave me. Our patrol goes deep behind enemy lines, our route is uncharted and we have no idea of the strength of the enemy in this area, just wait for me, whatever happens I will always find my way back to you until my last breath. I love you Judy."_

At that instant she instantly regretted playing that recording, the recording hit her like a speeding train, that Nick was still out there and he will do anything to go back alive just to see her again, she began to cry silently and realizing her current state, she berated herself for acting like this while Nick is away, and the only thing that he wants from her is her help, and the feeling of being loved took over her thoughts and she begin to relax. _'I wonder what happened to Jack?'_

At another room at the other end of the hall stood Jack Savage, after his shift ended, he could never forget the moment that Judy bumped to her at the room. Experiencing the same plight as Judy, he secretly loves Skye, but his encounter with Judy at that door left him having questions. Questions that cannot be answered due to its awkward nature. _'Ah, fuck it Jack! Just admit to someone that you love them.'_ His mind screamed over the last eight years to do the same, but being the socially awkward person he is, he decides every time to keep his relationships and feelings bottled and that again that Duty must come first before love, but then again you never know when a person might love you because the only time that you do know, it would be too late.

* * *

With the outpost in sight and no sign of the enemy, Nick and his squad of battle-hardened, death cheating, and versatile team advanced slowly to the outpost, it turns out, it was nothing more than a triangle shaped concrete house standing at the fork of the road, although it looks rundown from the outside, the outpost is actually decent, it has five cots each with its own room, clean water and things needed to set up a roadblock, such as retractable serrated metal teeth, concrete barricades, and sandbags, all are useful in terms of improvising defenses when the enemy finds their position.

"All right before we sleep, we have to black out every window, put the concrete barriers by the doors and windows and put sandbags behind it. No one wants to sleep forever right?" Nick said earning a chuckle from the others and started working. The fact that bothers him the most was the way that Skye was working., always keeping her tail upright and working in such a manner that it feels like, to the untrained eye, that she was trying to seduce him, he just couldn't keep his eyes off of her curves, he stared in such an obvious manner that Skye brushed her tail at his face to get his mind back on track.

After a few minutes of working, they all went to their respective rooms as They finished their 'entrenchment' in the outpost. Skye went up to Nick's room, surprised by her sudden appearance, Nick spoke up.

"What are you doing here Skye?" Nick softly asked.

"Can I sleep with you Nick? I still have those dreams." Skye answered.

"What dre… oh, yeah. Sure, just stay here beside me. No funny thoughts okay?" Nick told her as she lies down beside him.

"Did Jack take care of you right?"

"He did, but he can't do it the way you can though, I just hug him like a squirming doll." Skye giggled.

"Is it okay for you to cuddle with me?" Skye asked Nick.

"Yeah sure, it's okay." Nick answered as he placed his arms on her waist and put his body near hers. And with that one last request, they all went asleep.

* * *

Judy woke up to the sound of Clawhauser knocking loudly at her door, even though Judy is an early riser, the event that happened in the last few days robbed her of a much needed sleep, but still, the loud knocking of Clawhauser was enough to wake her up and get ready in less than five minutes, "What is it Clawhauser?" Judy asked.

"We have a development." Clawhauser said as he ran through the hall, leaving a flabbergasted bunny at his wake.

"What is it Chief?" Judy breathlessly asked.

"Put the satellite imagery on the big screen." Bogo ordered as Officer Chesley Sofler complied.

"This is the current situation on the ground, so far Snarlov contacted us after he managed to fix the helicopter's radio module and hooked it up to a battery, Wolford is bleeding his left arm out. but still okay, Nick however…" Chief Bogo said as he inhaled, getting ready for the worst reaction from Judy.

"He's been shot through the stomach and lost a lot of blood…" Bogo continued. "I am organizing a convoy to help them out. No air support, we lost too much pilots already, and I will not lose one more because of a daring mission gone wrong."

"Sir, we need to help them as fast as we can! We can surely spare one more…"

"No! I will not lose another mammal again. Four pilots and two officers died already trying to get them out, sending a fast and armored convoy will be their only chance, you will be riding with Savage and the rest of the ISA agents in their MRAPS, fast, and armored against mines and small arms fire. Luckily, we managed to retrofit one of them as a Field Ambulance. But for all we know, they don't give a fuck about conventions and agreements, so we will be arming them with grenade launchers while the other MRAPS will get .50 cals and a special TOW Missile for one of them."

"Sir, I have to go with them." Judy pleaded.

"If I say no, could it stop you?" Bogo asked.

"Nope." Judy said as she saluted, left the room and headed straight to the motor pool where the other agents were already waiting.

The way going to the motor pool was very busy as the halls had recruits scurrying around and high ranking officers barking orders. As she went to the armory, she felt nostalgic as she realized that Nick was there the day before and used a similar load out before departing on his I'll fated journey to which led him currently bleeding out in the middle of a fight of life and death.

After spending a few minutes picking her load out, she heads to the motor pool and meets the other agents waiting for her. Being part of the operation, Judy was assigned to drive the Retrofitted MRAP Ambulance as a driver and after a few minutes later, after checking their weaponry for problems, they proceeded to move going to the outpost where Nick was hanging on for dear life.

Moving at a speed of 65 mph, the convoy was headed straight to the firefight while towing a large number of savage mammals behind them due to the lack of a high frequency sonic device that could keep those animals at bay, and instead of letting them scatter, they are letting them follow so that they could be an asset to the upcoming rescue. After passing by the halfway mark in their GPS, the team loaded up and started to count the total number of ammunitions they have, a practice that ISA Agents honed over the years that was very different from the way that the police sting operations that Judy was used to.

* * *

 _ **Two Hours Ago…**_

Nick woke to a loud shot that rang out from outside of the outpost, dragging himself from his sleep, and his morning wood from last night's cuddling with Skye only made his situation worse, looking out, a reflection in the distance made him duck by instinct as round barely misses his head, getting his unsilenced pistol, he shot four rounds from the pistol to wake everyone up and grab their weapons as Nick motioned to them to keep their heads down. Looking around, he sees his Barrett Sniper Rifle and motions to Wolford.

"Wolford, get a piece of glass and dash here on my signal." Nick said as Wolford shook his head in a nervous manner and headed to a broken window and picked a glass shard that fell from the recent shots by the sniper. As he returned to his position, he quickly ran beside Nick and exposed his arm to the snipers aim and all it took was a loud bark of a weapon to see blood splatter as the round hits Wolford's arm and causing him to stumble to the wall.

"You okay buddy?" Nick said as he tried to put pressure on the wound to control its bleeding and to prevent shock due to blood loss. "Snarlov! Go round back and get the med kit, ready the plasma too just in case if the bleeding doesn't stop." He ordered Snarlov as too much loss of blood can put Wolford into shock and lessen his chance of survival.

While waiting for Snarlov, Nick told Wolford to raise the glass shard on his signal as he tries to get his sniper rifle on the other side of the room. "Now!" Nick said as he rushed on all fours to the rifle and hurried to the next viable hiding spot.

When Snarlov returned, he slid the med kit to Skye who tended immediately to Wolford as Nick was scanning the barren landscape to find the sniper somewhere in the distance.

Every time the sniper shoots, Nick sees a pattern of hiding spots he uses and predicts his next hiding lace early enough for him to put a bullet through the scope of the enemy's sniper rifle and through his head.

Moments later, BMP's rolled up in front of the outpost and started firing for effect on the outpost, the medium strength concrete mix used for the outpost was nothing compared to the 35mm Chain Guns used by the BMP's and the team had to retreat towards the very last room where the succeeding number of walls can stop the rounds before hitting them, outgunned, the team devises a plan to retreat to the helicopter that still had a functioning side door minigun that they could use against the overwhelming enemy forces, the plan was to use the narrow pass to the wreckage as a bottleneck and to force the enemy there where charges are placed and is also where the minigun fire from the down helicopter could be directly focused at.

The plan calls for a vital element that could be found on the other side of the town that was occupied by the enemy, batteries. A battery shop stood behind enemy lines, and for them to survive, they need to capture it before retreating to the helicopter to maximize the resources they have at hand.

With everyone agreeing to the plan, Nick led the way with Skye and Wolford following and Snarlov at the rear, the team slowly advanced to the battery shop using the closely built buildings that offered a fair amount of protection which was good enough to advance quickly and with barely any danger, to prevent making Wolford's situation from getting worse, Skye and Wolford were ordered to switch positions as the danger was at the front and not at the back.

As soon as they were two buildings away, a flash bang went off blinding Nick and Snarlov, Skye and Wolford however, was far from the blast as they were still outside and were waiting for their signal to advance. As soon as the flashbang blinded them, two armed terrorists entered the building and were about to shoot them both when Skye brandished her MP5 Submachine Gun and opened fire on them emptying out the magazine, the result was more of an overkill but was actually permitted in close quarter combat to prevent the enemy from getting back up after being shot once or twice.

As soon as Nick and Snarlov were back on their senses, they continued to the highly explosive battery shop and managed to get four batteries for Semi-Tractor truck use. And they began their mad dash to the crash site.

As soon as they were at the narrowest point of the pass, Nick planted what remained of everyone's C4 charges and set them out evenly under the soil, after a few minutes were allocated for making the trap, the team dashed for the downed helicopter and once they were under cover, a battery was used for the operation of the minigun and the other one was a spare while the other two were used to operate the communication module of the downed helicopter to communicate to bravo base.

As the enemy began to advance, Snarlov was slowly watching their movement to time the detonation of the charges just right to destroy or at least disable the BMP's that were hot on their tail. As the BMP's rolled over the charges, Snarlov detonated them and saw a massive explosion of fire and dirt as the charges were detonated and significantly slowed down the enemy advance giving them enough time to hook up the electrical and putting the gun online and with Nick shooting a steady stream of bullets towards the enemy as they tried to take cover behind the natural landscape in an attempt to survive the slaughter that is happening in front of their eyes.

The enemy was wearing military grade gear which made it difficult for Nick to put them down and the gun was dangerously close to overheating when he killed a handful of enemy personnel while the rest that continued their flanking advance to the crash site

During the battle, a small pass was discovered to the left of the crash site, undetected by Nick due to his focus on wiping out the enemy up front, that had a clear shot of everyone in the site and their first target was Nick who was manning the minigun with efficiency considering the time and situation, the rifle they used was not equipped with a suppressor, when they aimed for the rifle at Nick's Chest and fired, there was miscalculation of the distance that needed to be considered when shooting from a perch, the shot went off and hit Nick, but instead of the chest, the round hits him in the stomach and once seeing Nick fall, Skye took his Barrett Sniper Rifle, and after seeing a flash in one of mountainside, she activates the thermal scope and located the two snipers, after adjusting for the distance, she fired and hit the targets. Dead center.

Shortly after that, Snarlov got to the communications module to work and radioed their situation back to base and their current position. Although the helicopter was highly visible, the darkened landscape that it crashed upon effectively camouflaged the downed helicopter and slowed down the location finder on their mainframe, as the radio crackled to life and began exchanging information that were crucial to their survival.

* * *

After the whole combat check, the savage mammals that were following them are still hot on their tail, growing in numbers every meter they run as their loud engines were locked on by the savages, 200 meters from the target site, the savage mammals started to disperse as the sudden shots from the firearms they were using were enough to scare them away to the hills for the next four kilometers. As the distance neared, the steady burst of the minigun from under Skye's trigger fingers as they were cutting down the enemy defenses as if they were grass and slowly put them down one by one but it was still not enough, after one falls another one comes out from behind enemy lines as if they were in a zerg rush that they cannot defeat.

With Nick bleeding profusely on the ground and Wolford beside him to keep pressure on his wounds, the situation was getting worse every second with Nick pooling a large amount blood at his side The situation is critical and with the convoy barely minutes away, Nick tried his best to stay awake but his wounds were too much for him to handle and slowly slipped to unconsciousness as the heavy thuds of the grenade launchers from the MRAPS were heard from the distance and enemy positions were getting blown away piece by piece as the enemy morale begin to lower and weaken their resolve.

Once the MRAPS were on site, Judy was the first one to hop out of the vehicles and immediately went up to Nick and sees him unconscious with Wolford also close to passing out as he was he was shot earlier than Nick but with a less serious injury as it only struck his arm and was non-fatal, although the amount of time that took him before he got medical attention was almost equivalent to the amount of blood that Nick lost over the past eight minutes.

Once the last enemy personnel fled the area, Nick was immediately loaded and hooked up to the various machines that were used to keep his heart breathing and immediately placed him in a hibernation state to keep his heart rate low and survive the trip to the base as Wolford was patched up and stitched on and stayed awake during Nick's transit and was there by his side ad they were the first to speed off as the others stayed behind and swept the area clean for any hostiles.

Without any air support, returned to base quickly as another ambush could prove fatal as the brunt of the rescue team was far behind them, the trip was slow and time consuming as a number of diversion roads were used to prevent the enemy from mounting a successful ambush against them and once the gate was seen, they readied the gurney for transfer to their most sophisticated operating room.

Once the MRAP stopped, Nick was immediately wheeled out and rushed to the operating room where the operation immediately started, less than two minutes later, the doctor went outside and met Judy and Skye.

"He is going to need at least six bags of blood and the number in this base is not enough." Dr. Luke Hamilton, a wolf, informed them.

"Let me do it, we are compatible." Skye volunteered.

"Okay, first let me ready the apparatus for blood transfer and we'll get you hooked up." "Dr. Hamilton said before disappearing inside the dreaded doors of the operating room.

Five minutes later, Dr. Hamilton went out again. "Ms. Winter, we're ready."

He approached Skye and placed a green hospital gown over what she's wearing and went inside, leaving a grief stricken Judy behind.

' _She cares for him that much…'_ Judy thought as she sat down on the chairs outside the operating room and silently wept.

Inside the operating room, Skye was directed to a machine that was connected to a blood purifier and a tube from the purifier to Nick's arm, Dr. Meg Ashley approached her and inserted a very long needle in her arm as she slightly flinched from the quick and sudden insertion of the needle and hoped that Nick will be okay.

' _Get well soon Nick'_

She thought as she sat down and saw the blood transfer from her arm to his.

Liters of blood began transferring from her to Nick as he stabilized and was given the go ahead to get the bullet that was stuck in the middle of the stomach and the intestine, missing the organs but severing a vein in the process and the getting lodged inside him.

After two hours of grueling surgery, Nick was closed up and he was sent to one of the Intensive Care Units room and was there to recuperate for the next three to four days, meanwhile outside where Judy was waiting, Skye sat down on the seat across her and kept her head down and silently hoped for Nick's speedy recuperation while Judy was trying to contain her thoughts taking control of her, thoughts such as slapping her and slapping Skye were ever present in her head because she just couldn't understand everything, first was the stint in the cafeteria and next was the first helicopter crash, and now was the blood transfer. She just couldn't understand why the two always had something in common and always try to save each other's fur while Judy stood there and watched at the side.

Overwhelmed by her feelings, she left for her quarters and spoke to herself.

"He needs to decide quickly, me or her."

* * *

 **Post A/N: I'm back! And with new writing styles thanks to my English teacher, my teacher said I needed to work on how I present the story and the order of events. Leave a review if you liked it or hate it because if you don't, I won't write in this format again, as of now I am actually just experimenting with different writing styles that best captures the attention and interest of the audience.**

 **Until next time!**

 **-Nicholas Phillips**


	13. Decisions

**Chapter Thirteen** – **Decisions**

Days after Outbreak: 11

Days without incident: 5

Savage Mammal count: 799 952 (estimated)

Dead: 9

Survivors: 39

* * *

Waking up on a soft bed accompanied with the repeated beeps of the Electrocardiogram that was placed beside his bed, Nick tried to stand only to fall back to his bed, letting out a small groan as he looked under the blanket and saw the absurd amount bandages that were used to keep his injury from being infected, moments later, a medical officer came inside and assessed him, finding the face the face familiar, he looked for the name tag and saw her name; Luna Twilight. She went about the room, checking his vitals displayed at the Electrocardiogram and presumably writing them down at the clipboard she was holding.

"How are you Lieutenant? Are you feeling any pain or discomfort?" She asked as she continued to go about and take down notes.

"Never been better Luna, but there is a slight pain on the wound though, can you call in Jack Savage? And please do me a favor and don't tell the others that I'm awake, I have a few personal matters to resolve." Nick replied as Luna headed for the door and went outside, leaving Nick with silence, something that he barely experienced over the last few days.

Having been out for days, stressful thoughts began occupying his head as the thought of leaving Judy alone for days and being worried for him began to flow into his head as he began to take in the current situation piece by piece. A soft knock on the door was heard before Jack went in. A rabbit of average build, he was one of the lucky ISA agents that managed to survive the slaughter of their headquarters, he was the only person that Nick trusted confidently in the ISA team that was with them as past ISA missions during Nick's time at the ISA saw them looking after their backs from one dilemma to the other. As he approached Nick, he closed the door and sat at one of the chairs near the door.

"What is it about? I could've just told them you know." Jack began.

"How were things while I was gone?" Nick asked.

"First of all, you weren't gone; you were just knocked out for five days-"

"Three days!?" Nick was shocked as lots of things could've happened by then and that means that Judy is worried sick of him.

"I said five days. Second, you are still alive thanks to Skye, you lost a lot of blood and needed an immediate blood donor in order to replace the blood that you lost while waiting for the medevac and the blood bank in this base was not enough, and for that you should give her credit, don't openly hate her, she's still madly in love with you and she never got over it." Jack paused for a rest as he saw Nick's face broke in front of his eyes.

"She still loves me that much?" Nick asked in disbelief. Jack nodded slowly to reaffirm his thoughts.

"After all I did to her, she isn't angry? For leaving her behind, for ditching her and forgetting about her? She isn't angry at me? Why does she still love me Jack? I left her alone and broken for fifteen years!" Nick continued as he underwent an emotional breakdown and making Jack stand up and hold his shoulder.

"Keep it together man! She never gave up on you, she never forgot about you, and you should do the same to her." He said in an effort to calm Nick which only made it worse as the thoughts of him giving up on her made him feel guilty for what he did, thanks to hindsight, he thought that he should have at least kept contact with her, and not just leave her behind like the rest of the ISA.

"And by the way," he added. "Those two have something between them, I can't point it out but it definitely had something to do with you and some sort of decision. Better get ready for whatever it is." He said as he walked to the door. "I have to go, I'm still going to train some police officers of our tactics and techniques." "Do you want me to tell them about you waking up? I could pass by their quarters" Jack offered to which Nick nodded.

"Tell them to come at the same time. It's about damn time I settle this problem and set things straight." Nick added as Jack nodded in response and left him alone once again to ponder on his thoughts that overwhelmed him to the point of a breakdown.

* * *

Judy started out her day as usual with Jack in the Surveillance Division when suddenly, Jack was pulled out from his post because of someone's request leaving her to wonder who called Jack, over the past five days during which Nick was unconscious, they were regularly seen talking to each other at the mess hall and breaks, Jack felt a responsibility that dictated him to keep Judy in company as rabbits can often be too emotional to the point that they would go to depression and die because of it or simply committing suicide. To prevent this, Jack went ahead and took the initiative by keeping her in his company after seeing her acting differently and persuaded her to talk about her problems or just plain chit chat to keep themselves occupied and put a little fun in doing their work that is usually bland and serious, they would also crack some jokes to lighten the mood. Although they weren't like Nick's jokes, they were good enough for a few laughs and motivating them in their work.

Since Nick was still asleep, it was routine for Jack and Judy to talk, bunnies will be bunnies and foxes will be foxes, in Skye's case, was not giving up on Nick even when he left her because foxes mate for life, it similar or even the same from what Skye thinks. In the rabbit's case, they would keep each other in company, no funny business, just a small talk to keep each other comfortable and safe.

Nick already knows ever since that Jack always had something when it comes to women, but his stubborn motto of 'Duty before Loving' always stuck to his head ever since he joined, this was one of the reasons why it could be hard at times for Nick to trust him. But if you get close enough to him, you'll see that he is actually the best friend you can ask in a socially awkward person. Socially awkward when it comes to other people, but when it comes to bunnies, he is back to chit chat mode where he could keep his tongue loose just by drinking water with another bunny.

* * *

By the time Jack headed back to his post, He stopped by Skye's quarters where she was taking a break and was getting ready to teach the next batch of officers in efficient combat training. Hesitantly knocking on her door, he got himself ready for the storm that might come, as the door opened, he maintained his composure as the door slowly opened, revealing a haggard looking Skye that was not even qualified to train a batch of officers, she is in this current state after asking every hour at the nurse's station for the vitals which kept her awake the whole five days that Nick was out, she was only stopped when Bogo ordered her to get some rest or she will never be updated on Nick and she will only find out if Nick will call for her. Looking at her current state, Jack was stunned as he promised Nick to keep her in tip top condition when Nick left the ISA.

"What on earth happened to you?" Jack was startled at the sight of Skye, a sight that he never got used to.

"Oh it's nothing, just a little under the weather." Skye tried to best to convince him.

"Nope, it's not just nothing. You need to take a rest, as soon as you are done coming with me." Jack said as he headed to the Surveillance room with Skye in tow.

"So what is it about?" Skye asked curiously, trying to get info on the current situation.

"Oh you'll see." Jack said as he continued walking.

"Judy, I need you to come with me." Jack said to Judy who followed him a few minutes later.

"What is it about?" Judy asked, only to be met with the same answer.

"You'll see."

As they arrived at the door of Nick's room, Jack opened it, pushed them inside, and locked them out from the outside, as he waited outside for Nick's signal to open the door.

This is the first that the three of them met at the same time and at the same room, there was a palpable tension in the room as awkwardness and the feeling of being embarrased or ashamed began to take over. Just as they were about to head for the door, Nick spoke up.

"Don't mind trying to get out, it's locked." Nick said, hearing grunts in response.

"What are you trying to do Nick?" Skye asked while Judy remained silent, sitting down at the chair next to the door.

"It's about time I settle this, I don't want this to impede our future operations." Nick calmly said.

"Okay, we'll listen." Skye said.

"I don't want this to happen again so I-"

"She loves Jack, I love you." Skye flatly said.

"Where is your evidence Skye?" Nick asked her angrily as she went up and showed pictures of them on her phone hanging out during their break time, even during lunch they would have their own table at the mess hall that only they use.

"Judy? Is this true?" Nick calmly asked Judy.

"Yes! We're bunnies, it makes sense doesn't it?" Judy shouted out of guilt, jealousy and pressure, and Nick understood it as Judy cheating on him.

"Judy, how could you do this? I trusted you! I know that you listened to my voice recording, but no, you still want ahead anyways, didn't I mention that there will be no one else but you?" Nick said, full of hurt and sadness. "Jack! Get inside!" he said as Jack stepped into the room. "Is this true?" He said as he held up Skye's phone in from of his eyes seeing a picture of them that looked a little to close to the same relationship that they have. "Explain this. You will be the deciding factor of my thoughts." He said as he went back and relaxed on the bed.

"First of all, we're bunnies, it's normal to do that to comfort other bunnies. Second, it's because..." Jack said as his tongue slipped and stuttered.

"What? What's the second Jack?" Nick said, pressuring Jack to say it out loud.

"It's because I already like someone else okay?" Jack said as he caved in.

"Who? Which one?" Nick continued his barrage of words to the bunny.

"It's because I like Skye okay? There, you happy?" Jack said as he gave up on his resistance and let the words flow like a burst dam.

"Jack, you do?" Skye said, dumbfounded by the sudden revelation.

"Yes, ever since I joined the ISA, I looked up to you, and ever since Nick left, I was happier but I just can't muster the courage to do it, you're right, I never should have joined in the first place." Jack said as he kept a silent stance after what he said.

"Okay, since the-"

Three knocks were heard at the door when Agent Charles Atlas burst inside.

"Sir, you need to take a look at this."

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"Remember the markings that were found on Lt. Wilde's arm?"

"Yeah, why?" Jack recalled.

"We ran those characters and found out that they were encryption codes for a highly secure radio transmission, we got a spare of our radio listeners and configured it to those numbers, you cant believe what we-" Agent Atlas explained breathlessly to Jack.

"Get to the damn point Agent!" he said, annoyed by the fact that Atlas was wasting his time.

"We have a spy in our ranks sir, we don't know who it is and we don't know how much we are compromised." Atlas said.

"Get everyone to gather in the tarmac, and get a platform for me to stand on." Nick said as Atlas threw a salute and went outside the door.

For a few moments, everyone was silent with a smirk crawling on Jack's face.

"Are you planning about-"

"Its exactly what I'm planning about. Now, who is the mammal that almost everyone appreciates?" Nick asked in a devious tone.

"Uh, no, its too harsh Nick!" Skye reasoned out only for Nick to turn a deaf ear to her pleads.

"The point of it is to be harsh Skye." Nick said as he got his gun from the desk, checked the magazine and placed it in his holster before putting on a standard-issue ISA Bulletproof Vest with KevlarTech from their laboratories.

As Nick was about to leave, he caught a glimpse of Judy, completely oblivious to their plans.

"I know that face, I know that you don't trust me. But please do this time." Nick said in the most convincing way possible; watery eyes, Sniffy nose, and ears drooped backwards.

"Fine, what can I do?" Judy said, giving in to the cute face that Nick gave her.

"Just follow me and don't interrupt okay?" Nick said as they began to walk out of the room, as they went to the hall, Nick stopped by the armory and switched out his USP .45 ISA Standard Issue Pistol with a Desert Eagle Pistol with a recoil reduction apparatus, he changed his holster and slapped the pistol inside and left for the tarmac where all of the 39 survivors were standing up in neatly arranged rows, with Chief Bogo waiting on the platform.

As he went up the steps and walked to the center of the platform, he announced the current development of the day.

"As of today, we had a significant breakthrough in revealing the whereabouts of Max Michaels. But with it came a message that shocked the entire command; there is a spy among us. If you are a spy, please come forward and be assured that we will not harm you." Nick said in a dead serious and flat tone, giving out a message that could decide the fate of the whole force.

"No one?" Nick asked as the crowd was still in attention and looking straight at him with curiosity.

"Ok then, I would like Clawhauser to come up here and stay in the middle please. Agent Atlas, please get the watermelon." Nick said as he heard the suppressed squeal of Clawhauser as he jogged to the center of the platform while Agent Atlas placed a watermelon in a table a few meters to the left of Nick's position.

"What Agent Atlas placed here is a watermelon, and Agent Braun, please cuff and bind Officer Clawhauser." Nick announced while hearing murmurs and some gasps from the crowd. He pulls out his pistol from earlier and pointed it on Clawhauser.

"This right here is a Recoil Reduced Desert Eagle Pistol from the Internal Security Agency, 16 rounds in one magazine and 17 if there is one in the chamber. To show you that this is not a joke…" Nick stopped as he pointed the pistol to the watermelon and pressed the trigger, giving off an awfully loud shot before the bullet hits the watermelon and splatters its red juice all over the platform.

After a few minutes of silence, he put the gun on his holster and went to the place where Clawhauser was bound using an absurd amount of rope to keep him from breaking free.

"Whoever is a spy must come out now before I spill the blood of one of our own." Nick said in a terrifyingly dark and sadist tone as he approached Clawhauser and circling around him.

Without any reactions from the gathered mammals, he took out his gun and pointed it at Clawhauser with his finger on the trigger and with the safety off.

"Get out of there now before I will do something all of you will regret." Nick continued as the mammals themselves tried to find the spy, and even a few blows were dealt when some of them did not listen and insisted that they were not the spy.

In order to take control of the situation, Nick shot three warning shots into the air catching everyone's attention as they realized their mistake and went back to their lines.

"Now you know that this weapon is not a joke. We are dead serious about this matter and all of us are going to pay the price, only one spy is needed in order for Clawhauser to live. Everyone else must not argue. And all of us will be held responsible for his death if the spy will not reveal himself to us." Nick continued as he spotted Judy being restrained by the ISA Agents and a few officers knocked unconscious due to the fight that Judy out up. She was not about to get her best friend be killed by another of her friends, her boyfriend nonetheless, that will become a sadistic killer if the spy did not show up.

"This is your last warning." He said as he cocked the gun and pointed it on Clawhauser's chest. "Who. Is. The. Spy." Nick said at the crowd where a few of the mammals hung their head for the moment that will come.

"Okay then, his funeral." He said as he pulled the trigger and a loud noise followed when the pistol shot its .50 Action Express round into Clawhauser's chest, splattering Agent Atlas with his blood.

Just moments after the shot was fired, a mammal went forward and claimed that he was a spy, an ISA agent shot a tranquilizer dart at him and he fell to the ground.

He was only a second too late to save an innocent and friendly Cheetah's life.

* * *

 **Post A/N:**

 **This is how cruel I can be. Shooting off a beloved character, I cannot wait to hear your reactions on the reviews. And please come back to see what will happen to the rest of the force once their morale lifter and rumor mill is gone. Only imagine how bland and boring their lives are without Clawhauser. Or even try to imagine a Zootopia without a Clawhauser. Don't worry though, there will be something in exchange for Clawhauser in the next chapter. It will definitely be worth it so please stay tuned. The next chapter will be posted in a week because I am reverting back to my old schedule. *cackles with thunder effects***

 **Until next time**

 **-Nicholas Phillips.**


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